PITTSBUEGH 

M  AIM  THOROUGH  FARES 
AND  THE  DOWN  TOWN 

Di5T.Ri:c:r  igio 


GEISEL  LWRARY 

iJNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGO 

LA  JOLLA.  CALIFORNIA 


fll'^l^ 


PITTSBURGH 

MAIN   THOROUGHFARES   AND  THE 
DOWN   TOWN   DISTRICT 


East  Ohio  Street  — a  two-line  thorouohfare 


Fifth  Avenue  —  a  four-line  thoroughfare 


Of  the  530  miles  of  main  thoroughfares  within 
a  radius  of  seven  miles  of  City  Hall,  less  than 
one  and  one -half  per  cent  have  room  for  pas- 
sage between  cars  and  vehicles,  slow-moving  or 
standing  at   curb.    See  page  31. 


Liberty  Avenue — a  six-line   thoroughfare 


PITTSBURGH    CIVIC    COMMISSION 


PITTSBURGH 

MAIN    THOROUGHFARES    AND    THE 
DOWN  TOWN  DISTRICT 


IMPROVEMENTS    NECESSARY    TO 

MEET  THE  CITY'S  PRESENT  AND 

FUTURE    NEEDS 


:a  iSeport 

BY 

FREDERICK   LAW  OLMSTED 


Prepared   under  the  direction  of  The   Committee  on   City  Planning 


ADOPTED    BY    THE    COMMISSION 
DECEMBER,    IQIO 

324   FOURTH    AVENUE  FEBRUARY,    191I 

Publication   No.    8 


PITTSBURGH  CIVIC  COMMISSION 

H.  D.  W.  English President 

J.  W.   KiNNEAR  First  Vice-President 

John  W.   Beatty Second  Vice-President 

H.  J.   Heinz Third  Vice-President 

J.  J.  DONNELL Treasurer 

Allen  T.   Burns General   Secretary 


O.  H.  Allerton 
T.  E.  Billquist 
Charles  F.  Chubb 
William  L.  Jones 
Morris  Knowles 


H.  L.   Kreusler 
Joseph  W.  Marsh 
Marcus  Rauh 
George  R.  Wallace 
Charles  F.  Weller 


COMMITTEE  ON  CITY  PLANNING 

T.  E.  Billquist,  Chairman 
Charles  F.  Chubb  H.  J.  Heinz 

Benno  Janssen  Richard  Kiehnel 

E.  K.  Morse 


Copyright,    191 1 
By  Pittsburgh   Civic  Commission 


J.  Horace  McFarland  Compaay 
Harrishurg,  Pennsylvania 


Betitcatton 


THIS  BOOK  AND  ITS  CONTENTS  ARE  DEDICATED  TO  THOSE 
CITIZENS  OF  PITTSBURGH  WHO,  IMBUED  WITH  CIVIC  PRIDE 
AND  THE  VISION  OF  A  CITY  USEFUL,  CONVENIENT,  ECONOMI- 
CAL AND  HEALTHFUL,  AS  WELL  AS  BEAUTIFUL,  WILL,  IN  THE 
YEARS  TO  COME,  RESPOND  TO  THE  CALL  OF  THEIR  CITY  TO 
SERVE  IT  WITHOUT  HOPE  OF  PERSONAL  REWARD,  AND  WITH 
PATIENCE,    FIDELITY    AND    ENTHUSIASM. 

PITTSBURGH    CIVIC    COMMISSION 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS 


Letter  of  Transmissal      ....... 

City  Planning  and  the  Cost  of  Living  in  Pittsburgh 

Introduction  and  Summary  of  Urgent  Recommendations 

Part  L     The  Down  Town  District 

The  Main   Arteries  .... 

Eastward  Arteries  and  Their  Improvement 

A  New  Traffic  Center 

Sixth   Avenue 

Try   Street   Grade  Crossing 

Second  Avenue  Freight  Yards 

The   Hump  Cut 

Grant   Boulevard   Extension 

A  Civic  Center 

Diamond   Street   Widening 

Market   Street  Widening 

The  Market 

The  Water  Front 

The  Improvement  of  The   Point 

Part  II.     Main  Thoroughfares 
Width  of  Thoroughfares 
Special  Types  of  Thoroughfares 
Widening  Old   Streets 
Unified   Procedure  for  City,   County  and 
Specific  Recommendations 

Penn  Avenue  Artery 

Forbes   Street   Artery 

South   Hills  Artery 
Outlying  Thoroughfare  Improvements  (with  special  indices) 

(ix) 


Page 

xi 


B( 


ugh 


5 
5 
6 

9 
9 

lO 
lO 
lO 

II 
II 
17 
17 
i8 

19 

29 

31 
31 

34 
37 
43 
44 
44 
47 
49 
59 


X  CONTENTS 

Part  III.     Surveys  and  a  City  Plan 
Pittsburgh's  Need  for  Surveys 
Objects  to  be  Secured 
Technical  Procedure 
Maps       .... 
Management  and  Cost 
Sample  Maps 
Data  from  New  York 
Data  from   Baltimore 

Part  IV.     Notes  on  Parks  and  Recreation  Facilities 
The  Bellefield  Improvement 
Grant  Boulevard 
Steep  Hillsides 
General  Discussion  of  Parks 

Neighborhood   Parks 

Rural   Parks 
Special   Park  Opportunities 

Part  V.     Special  Reports 
The  Market 
The  Hump  Cut 
The  City  and  the  Allegheny   River   Bridges 


Page 

93 
93 
9+ 
95 
96 
98 
98 
98 
100 

lOI 
lOI 

106 
109 
113 
113 
116 

117 

123 
123 
128 
133 


Letter  of   Transmissal 

Mr.  T.    E.   BillquiST,  Chairman,  November  26,  1910. 

Committee  on  City  Planning. 

Pittsburgh  Civic  Commission. 

Dear  Sir: — I  have  the  honor  to  submit  herewith  a  report 
upon  desirable  Improvements  in  the  main  thoroughfares  and  the 
down  town  district  of  Pittsburgh,  prepared  in  accordance  with 
the  instructions  of  your  Committee  and  in  consultation  with  its 
members. 

In  submitting  the  report  I  wish  to  take  the  opportunity  of 
expressing  my  appreciation  of  the  attitude  of  your  Committee 
throughout  the  twelve  months  during  which  the  investigations 
and  the  preparation  of  the  report  have  continued,  and  of  the 
part  which  the  keen  interest  of  its  members  and  their  helpful 
criticism  have  had  in  making  the  report  a  useful  one. 

The  closeness  of  the  connection  between  the  problems  dis- 
cussed in  this  report  and  those  of  the  Traction  System,  which 
have  been  concurrently  studied  by  Mr.  Bion  J.  Arnold,  has 
involved  frequent  conferences  with  Mr.  Arnold  and  his  assistant, 
Mr.  George  A.  Damon,  as  well  as  with  Mr.  John  P.  Fox,  engaged 
by  the  Mayor  for  a  study  of  the  same  problem  ;  and  the  informa- 
tion and  suggestions  furnished  by  them  have  been  of  great 
assistance.  In  the  preparation  of  the  report  on  the  Allegheny 
River  bridge  problems,  submitted  jointly  by  Colonel  T.  W. 
Symons  and  myself  and  printed  in  Part  V  of  this  report,  informa- 
tion furnished  by  Colonel  H.  C.  Newcomer,  in  charge  of  the 
local  office  of  U.  S.  Government  engineers,  has  been  of  the 
utmost  value.  I  am  also  greatly  indebted  to  the  Flood  Commis- 
sion, and  especially  to  Mr.  E.  K.  Morse,  Chairman  of  the  Engi- 
neers' Committee  of  that  Commission,  for  the  use  of  maps  and 
other  data  gathered  by  them. 

It  would  have  been  impossible  to  secure  an  intelligent  basis 
for  the  conclusions  and  suggestions  presented  in  this  report 
without  the  great  quantity  of  detailed  information  and  other  help 
furnished  by  the  Board  of  Assessors,  the  Departments  of  Pub- 

(xi) 


xii  LETTER    OF    TRANSMISSAL 

lie  Safety,  of  Public  Works  and  of  Law,  especially  through 
Mr.  N.  S.  Sprague,  Superintendent  of  the  Bureau  of  Construc- 
tion, Mr.  Chas.  A.  Finley,  Superintendent  of  the  Bureau  of  City 
Property,  and  Mr.  Lee  C.  Beatty,  First  Assistant  City  Solicitor. 
Throughout  the  investigation  and  the  preparation  of  this  report 
I  have  had  the  benefit  of  illuminating  and  stimulating  conferences 
with  Mayor  Magee. 

The  actual  gathering  of  necessary  information  from  the  above 
and  other  sources,  the  field  studies  and  the  preparation  of  nearly 
all  of  the  drawings  accompanying  the  report,  were  carried  on 
under  the  direction  of  my  personal  assistant,  Mr.  Edward  C. 
Whiting,  with  the  active  help  of  Mr.  Allen  T.  Burns  and  Mr. 
Sherrard  Ewing,  General  Secretary  and  Assistant  Secretary  of 
the  Commission,  to  all  of  whom  my  hearty  thanks  are  due. 

My  friend  and  colleague  in  the  study  of  several  city  problems 
elsewhere,  Mr.  Arnold  W.  Brunner,  of  New  York,  has  given  me 
valued  counsel  in  regard  to  the  possible  architectural  treatment 
of  the  proposed  Civic  Center,  and  has  been  good  enough  to  con- 
tribute to  the  report  the  interesting  sketches  on  pages  13  and 
14  for  a  possible  municipal  building  framing  the  east  side  of 
the  proposed  square. 

As  explained  at  length  in  the  body  of  the  report,  the  work 
has  been  greatly  handicapped  and  limited  in  its  scope  and  effec- 
tiveness by  the  entire  lack  of  accurate  detailed  maps  of  the  city 
and  surrounding  country.  This  lack  would  have  rendered  the 
report  almost  wholly  impossible  had  it  not  been  for  the  very  use- 
ful topographical  map  of  this  part  of  Pennsylvania  prepared  and 
published  by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey.  Not  only 
have  my  studies  of  the  outlying  thoroughfares  been  based  almost 
wholly  upon  this  map,  but  the  Survey  has  courteously  permitted 
the  use  of  transfer  sheets  from  their  original  plates  for  the 
thoroughfare  map  published  in  this  report. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

(Signed)         FREDERICK  LAW  OLMSTED. 


City  Planning  and  the   Cost  of 
Living  in  Pittsburgh 

PURPOSE  AND  PREPARATION  OF  THE  REPORT 

A  FACTOR  in  the  cost  of  living  in  Pittsburgh  is  stated 
graphically  in  the  frontispiece  of  this  report.  These 
drawings  also  suggest,  from  Pittsburgh's  own  provision 
for  some  of  her  needs,  a  method  to  decrease  this  cost. 
All  delays  and  congestion  of  traffic,  such  as  illustrated  on  Fifth 
Avenue  and  East  Ohio  Street  in  the  frontispiece  and  as  shown 
by  illustrations  in  this  preface  and  the  introduction,  add  to 
the  expenses  of  manufacturers,  the  costs  borne  by  wholesale 
merchants,  and  the  prices  charged  consumers  by  retail  dealers ; 
in  short  inadequate  traffic  facilities  in  Pittsburgh,  as  in  other  cities, 
add  to  the  cost  of  doing  business  and  of  living. 

The  map  at  the  end  of  this  preface  portrays  a  second  factor 
influencing  the  cost  of  living.  This  map  shows  how  much  land 
Pittsburgh  has,  both  used  and  still  unused,  for  business,  manu- 
facturing and  residence  districts  and  for  means  of  communica- 
tion, i.  e.,  streets  between  these  districts.  A  glance  also  indicates 
the  almost  unparalleled  problems  of  this  city  because  of  the  large 
amount  of  territory  25  per  cent  or  over  in  grade.  For  land  of 
this  grade  is  not  only  unused  for  buildings  and  streets,  but  also 
often  erects  barriers  to  the  natural  growth  and  spread  of  busi- 
ness, manufacturing  and  residence  sections.  Consequently,  Pitts- 
burgh must  exercise  greater  ingenuity  and  foresight  than  other 
cities  to  prevent  such  congestion  of  all  these  activities  as  would 
increase  rents  of  all  kinds  abnormally.  This  would  mean  again 
an  added  burden  to  the  ultimate  consumer  for  all  life's  necessities. 
In  addition,  tax  rates  are  chronically  assailed  as  a  charge  on  the 
cost  of  living.  But  taxes  are  spent  largely  for  improvements  to 
furnish  adequate  streets,  to  provide  for  the  city's  spread  and 
growth  and  to  carry  out  other  improvements  which  alone  can 
make  life  livable  and  desirable  in  a  modern  city.  In  fact,  "taxes 
may  actually  diminish  the  cost  of  living,  if  the  city's  money  is 
spent  economically  in  the  performance  of  necessary  co-operative 

(xiii) 


DIAGRAM  SHOWING  MOVEMENT  OF  TRAFFIC 
AT  IMPORTANT  STRLLT  INTLRSLCTIONS  IN 
PITTSBURGH width  or  band  represents  number  or 

CARS  AND  VEHICLES  PER    RUSH    HOUR. 

SCALE,  rOR  NUMBER  OF  VXHICLES. 

100735025  0  100  200  300 


Note:   Vehicle  traffic  on   Market  Street,  between   Fifth  and  Liberty  Avenues, 

now  discontinued 


(xiv) 


PURPOSE  OF  THE  REPORT  xv 

service."  But  taxes  are  often  wasted  because  the  improvements 
are  made  piecemeal,  by  patchwork,  with  no  reference  to  future 
needs.  Taxes  for  such  improvements  should  be  made  only  as  a 
part  of  a  far-sighted  and  comprehensive  plan.  Then,  without 
waste,  work  done  at  the  present  will  fit  into  the  work  to  be  done 
in  the  future. 

By  offering  solutions  for  the  above  and  many  other  similar 
problems  this  report  demonstrates  that  practical  city  planning — 
or  better,  replanning — is  part  of  the  world-wide  conservation 
movement.  City  planning  is  municipal  conservation.  Pittsburgh, 
like  other  cities  and  to  a  greater  extent  than  most  of  them,  faces 
the  problem  of  using  her  financial  and  territorial  resources  to  the 
utmost.  The  "utmost"  means  making  these  resources  go  the 
furthest  in  securing  ample  streets  for  transportation  and  traffic, 
and  easy  communication  between  all  parts  of  the  city;  in  providing 
for  the  cheap  distribution  of  food,  fuel  and  clothing;  in  making 
all  residence  districts  as  nearly  as  possible  equally  healthful, 
uncongested,  and  provided  with  trees  and  yards;  in  establishing 
for  all  residents  public  accommodations  for  recreation  and  leisure; 
and  in  maintaining  and  developing  adequate  districts  for  retail 
and  wholesale  trade,  manufacture  and  commerce. 

The  Pittsburgh  Civic  Commission  has  conducted  its  city 
planning  with  the  above  ends  in  view,  and  purposes  by  this  report 
to  contribute  to  the  economy,  convenience,  practicability  and 
attractiveness  of  Pittsburgh's  development  and  growth.  The 
Commission  began  this  work  by  retaining  Bion  J.  Arnold,  John 
R.  Freeman  and  Frederick  Law  Olmsted  to  make  a  report  on  the 
outline  and  procedure  of  city  planning  for  Pittsburgh.  This 
report  stated  the  scope  and  methods  for  investigations  on  the 
following  subjects: 

Steam  Railroads 

Water  Transportation 

Electric  Railroads 

Street  Systems 

Public  Lands  and  Buildings 

Water  System 

Sewerage   System 

Control  over  Developments  on  Private  Property 

Smoke  Abatement 

Building  Code 


xvi  PURPOSE  OF  THE  REPORT 

Provision  has  been  made  by  which  several  sections  of  this 
program  are  already  under  way.  The  city  administration  has  been 
foremost  in  appreciating  the  necessity  for  just  such  investigations 
as  the  report  recommended.  Expert  advice  at  this  period  in  our 
civic  advance  is  imperative  if  this  city  is  to  take  its  proper  rank 
among  American  cities.  Upon  completion  of  the  preliminary 
report  Mayor  Magee  undertook  to  have  studies  made  upon  the 
electric  and  steam  railroads,  and  requested  that  the  Commission 
release  to  the  city  Mr.  Bion  J.  Arnold  for  this  purpose.  This  the 
Commission  gladly  did,  and  since  then  Mr.  Arnold  has  conducted 
these  investigations  for  the  city  along  the  lines  laid  down  in  this 
preliminary  report.  The  preparation  of  a  building  code  as  sug- 
gested in  this  report  was  authorized  by  the  city  councils  at  the 
request  of  the  Mayor,  and  the  latter  appointed  a  competent 
building  code  commission,  and  an  appropriation  has  been  made 
for  the  carrying  out  of  this  part  of  the  City  Plan.  Mayor  Magee 
also  secured  the  retention  of  Mr.  Allen  Hazen  of  New  York,  who 
is  making  such  a  comprehensive  study  of  an  adequate  sewerage 
system  as  was  suggested  in  this  report.  Likewise,  the  Mayor  has 
planned  to  carry  out  the  studies  for  the  water  system. 

The  Commission  itself  continued  the  retention  of  Mr.  Fred- 
erick Law  Olmsted  to  make  a  study  of  a  comprehensive  main 
thoroughfare  system  for  the  center  of  the  city  and  to  the  princi- 
pal residence  and  manufacturing  districts  and  the  surrounding 
boroughs.  Mr.  Olmsted  was  also  asked  to  report  upon  the  loca- 
tions of  the  main  public  buildings  and  grounds  of  the  down  town 
district.  This  report  was  to  cover  both  immediately  necessary 
improvements  and  a  comprehensive  improvement  program  for 
the  next  twenty-five  years.  Thus  could  present  improvements  be 
made  economically  because  planned  with  reference  to  those  of 
the  future. 

The  Commission  presents  herewith  Mr.  Olmsted's  report  on 
these  subjects,  made  under  the  supervision  of  the  Committee  on 
City  Planning.  The  members  of  this  Committee  have  given  months 
of  time  from  their  private  business  to  the  consideration  of  every 
detail  of  this  report;  and  this  committee,  with  Mr.  Olmsted,  has 
given  to  the  report  its  value  as  a  contribution  to  the  movement 
for  the  Greater  and  Better  Pittsburgh. 

PITTSBURGH  CIVIC  COMMISSION. 


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PITTSBURGH 

MAIN   THOROUGHFARES  AND 
THE    DOWN   TOWN    DISTRICT 


Introduction 

THERE  are  two  main  divisions  of  City  Planning.  One 
looks  to  the  rearrangement  and  improvement  of  what 
has  already  been  unwisely  done  through  lack  of  proper 
planning  or  through  force  of  adverse  circumstances  of  any  sort. 
The  other  looks  to  the  wise  and  economical  layout  of  what  still 
remains  to  be  done,  especially  at  the  outskirts  of  the  city  where 
the  major  part  of  the  city's  growth  is  bound  to  occur,  and  where 
the  city  plan  is  daily  taking  shape  out  of  nothing,  whether  it  is 
intelligently  designed  or  not. 

Prevention  is  cheaper  than  cure,  and  a  moderate  expenditure 
of  effort  and  money  will  accomplish  far  greater  results  in  the 
long  run  if  applied  to  the  wise  control  of  the  growing  suburban 
districts,  where  new  streets  are  constantly  coming  into  existence, 
than  if  applied  to  costly  remodeling  of  the  older  parts  of  the 
city;  but  the  latter  is  sometimes  of  the  utmost  importance,  and 
is  of  direct  interest  to  a  much  larger  number  of  citizens  than 
the  prosaic  work  of  controlling  scattered  suburban  development. 
In  accordance  with  the  instructions  of  the  Commission  this 
report  deals  primarily  with  certain  problems  of  remodeling  m 
the  down  town  district,  and  with  the  improvement  of  the  mam 
thoroughfares  between  this,  the  heart  of  the  city,  and  the  more 
important  outlying  districts. 

To  carry  out  at  once  all  the  recommendations  of  this  report 
would,  even  if  it  were  possible,  impose  an  altogether  unreasonable 
financial  burden  upon  the  City  and  the  contiguous  boroughs. 
Such  procedure  is    unnecessary  and  indeed    impossible.     But  m 


PITTSBURGH— INTRODUCTION 


many  cases  there  is  a  crying  need  for  the  improvement  already, 
or  it  is  of  such  a  nature  that  any  delay  is  apt  to  involve  a  con- 
siderable increase  in  the  cost  and  the  difficulty  of  carrying  it  out. 

The  most  urgent 
general  improve- 
ment of  this  sort  is 
the  establishment 
of  new  building 
lines  on  all  main 
thoroughfares 
which  it  is  pro- 
posed to  widen ; 
this  in  order  to 
anticipate,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  con- 
struction    of     new 


Suggestive  treatment  of  street  junctions  in  outlying 
districts,  Stuttgart 


and  costly  buildings  on  the  present  street  lines. 

Of  the  specific  recommendations  made  in  this  report  it  seems 
advisable  to  give  the  earliest  attention  to  the  following: 

In  the  Down  Town  District  p^^^. 
The  cutting  of    the  Hump  and    the   widening  of    certain   streets   in  the 

Hump   District   as   recommended 10 

The  extension   of  Grant   Boulevard  to   Webster  Avenue il 

The  acquisition  of   land   required   for  the   proposed   Civic   Center  ...  1 1 

The  widening  of  Diamond   Street 17 

The  widening  of  Market  Street 17 

The  relocation  of  the  Market 18 

The  new  connection  between    Penn  and  Liberty  Avenues  at   Eleventh 

Street 7 

The  elimination  of  the  Try  Street  grade  crossing ....  10 

The  proposed  bridge  and  tunnel  to  the  South  Hills 49 

Along  Outlying  Thoroughfares  section 

Sixteenth   Street  bridge i  56 

Twenty-eighth  Street  grade  crossings 2  57 

Thirty-third   Street   improvement 3  57 

Forty-third   Street  bridge 6  59 

*Haights  Run  bridge 9  59 

Hazelwood  grade  crossing 18  64 

*Baum  Street  improvement 20  65 

Center  Avenue  improvement 21  65 

^Hamilton  Avenue  extension  and  connection  with  Kelly  Street     22  65 

*Already  provided  for,  wholly  or  in  part,  in  the  current  bond  issue. 


PITTSBURGH— INTRODUCTION  3 

Section  Page 

Larimer  Avenue  extension 24  66 

Batavia  Street 77  yi 

Wilkinsburg  grade  crossings      Ji  -j 

Wilkinsburg-Edgewood   connection ic  jj 

Rankin  improvement ig  j^ 

Duquesne  bridge 51  jr 

California  Avenue  and   Brighton   Road   extension 52  75 

Lowry's   Lane 56  77 

East  Ohio   Street   paving 57  77 

Sycamore  Street  grade  crossing  and  Bridge  Street  improvement 

in  Etna 60  78 

Allegheny  River  Boulevard  as  far  as  Main  Street  connection    .  61  79 

Main  Street  grade  crossing  in  Sharpsburg 62  79 

Carson  Street 641^  80 

Chartiers  Avenue  grade  crossing 65  80 

Crafton-Carnegie  connection 69  81 

Washington  Avenue  improvement yza  82 

Thoroughfare  to   Beechvievv 73a  83 

Carrick  connection  from  South  Hills  tunnel,  probably  Climax 

Street  route 75  84 

Twenty-second   Street  bridge  approach — South  Side  ....  80  86 

In  the  following  cases  the  actual  improvements  are  not  so 
urgent,  but  the  new  street  locations  should  be  established  before 
expensive  developments,  which  are  apt  to  occur  at  any  time,  shall 
interpose  serious  new  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  proposed 
improvements  : 

Section  Page 

Penn-Liberty  connection  at  Howley   Street 5  58 

Fifth  Avenue-Center  Avenue  connection  at  Soho 12  61 

Ellsworth  Avenue  extension 13  62 

Forbes  Street  extension 39  72 

Etna  improvement 59  78 

For  other  specific  thoroughfare  improvements  recommended 
in  this  report  there  appear  to  be  no  very  urgent  demands  at 
present.  Generally  speaking  they  should  be  carried  out  only  as 
some  special  opportunity  oflfers,  or  in  anticipation  of  some 
obstructing  development  which  cannot  now  be  foreseen,  or  as 
a  growing  traffic  shall  demand. 

But  a  thing  of  greater  consequence  than  any  one  of  these 
specific  improvements,  a  thing  of  vital  import  to  every  taxpaying 
citizen  of  the  present  and  future  City,  is  the  making  of  compre- 
hensive and  accurate  topographical  maps.    It  is  only  on  the  basis 


4  PITTSBURGH— INTRODUCTION 

of  such  maps  that  all  municipal  engineering,  and  indeed  much 
other  work  directly  managed  by  the  City,  can  be  planned  and 
carried  out  with  proper  economy  and  efficiency.  It  is  only  on 
the  basis  of  such  maps  that  improvements  in  the  city  —  details 
of  city  replanning — can  be  most  economically  determined.  And 
in  the  outlying  districts,  where  the  future  city  is  being  built,  such 
maps  are  absolutely  essential  to  an  intelligent  planning  or  control 
which  will  avoid  the  heavy  penalties  that  follow  haphazard  city 
growth,  especially  in  such  a  hilly  region. 


aOO  350         300         250  200         ISO  lOO  50 

NUMBER   OF  VEHICLES  AND    CABS 


400   eoo   r2oo   leco  2000  2400  seoo  3200 
CROSS  TONNAGE 


Comparative  diagram  showing  the  volume  and  the  estimated  gross  tonnage  of  traffic 
on  the  thoroughfares  leading  into  the  Down  Town  District 


PART   I 


"The  Down    T'own   District 


The  Main 
Arteries 


THE  down  town  district  is  substantially  that  part  of  the 
city  known  as  the  Point  District.  It  is  bounded  by  the 
two  rivers  and  by  the  steep  hills  to  the  eastward,  and 
within  this  section  of  the  city,  as  elsewhere,  the  basic  problem  is 
that  of  the  means  of  transportation — specifically  the  problem  of 
the  street  plan.  There  is  a  daily  circulation  of 
inward  and  outward  travel  to  be  borne  by  a  limited 
number  of  main  arteries,  of  which  those  leading  to 
most  of  the  tributary  districts  are  bridges.  It  is  clear  that  the 
bridges  can  be  enlarged  or  increased  in  number  at  any  time  when 
the  volume  of  travel  justifies  the  expense  of  reconstruction. 

Considering  the  fact  that  Pittsburgh  is  a  world  capital  in 
the  steel  bridge  industry,  that  its  busiest  quarters  are  sundered 
by  three  of  the  world's  big  rivers,  and  that  it  is  traversed  in 
every  direction  by  ravines  which  demand  the  construction  of 
mighty  viaducts,  it  is  a  striking  and  rather  shameful  thing  that  it 
does  not  possess  a  single  bridge  over  its  rivers  that  is  notable 
among  the  bridges  of  the  world  either  for  its  beauty,  for  its 
perfect  engineering  adaptation  to  its  purpose,  for  its  size, 
strength  or  ampli- 
tude. In  fact  the 
bridges  of  Pitts- 
burgh, compared 
with  those  of  other 
great  cities,  are 
rather  unusually 
limited  in  capacity 
and  lacking  in  the 
qualities  of  im- 
pressiveness  and 
beauty. 

It    IS    a    case    or  a  one-span  bridge  across  the  Danube  at  Budapest 


6      PITTSBURGH— THE    DOWN   TOWN    DISTRICT 


the  cobbler's  children  going  barefoot:  when  a  man  sells  shoes 
at  wholesale  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  it  is  time  for  his 
own  family  to  be  well  shod.  Pittsburgh  can  afford  to  have,  and 
owes  it  to  herself  to  have,  the  very  best  of  bridges.  No  time 
or  pains  or  reasonable  expense  should  be  spared  in  planning 
future  bridges,  whether  they  be  on  new  locations  or  to  replace 
existing  structures,  to  get  the  best  designs  that  the  highest 
engineering  skill  combined  with  the  highest  artistic  ability  can 
produce.  Bridge-builders  everywhere  should  be  enabled  to  think 
of  Pittsburgh  not  merely  as  a  source  of  cheap  raw  material  for 
bridges,  but  as  an  all-round  leader  in  the  bridge-building  art. 

To  the  eastward,  where  the  most  active  growth  of   the  city 
has  been  taking  place,   the   arteries  consist    not  of    bridges  over 

open  rivers,  but  of 
streets,  very  limited 
in  number  by  rea- 
son of  the  form  of 
the  land,  and  so 
situated  that  the 
cost  of  securing 
greater  capacity 
will  increase  by 
leaps  and  bounds 
with  the  rise  of 
land  values  and  the 
erection  of  new 
structures.  The 
first  step  in  plan- 
ning improvements  for  the  heart  of  the  city  must  therefore  be  to 
consider  the  possibilities  for  improvement  in  the  eastward  arteries. 

There  are  only  three  places  where    such  arteries 

Eastward  Arteries  i  i  i  i  i    -j         ^  •/■  ^l         •       ^ 

,  ^,   .  could  ever  have   been  laid  out,  even  it  the  wisest 

and  Their  •1111  •      j   •        1  11 

Improvement  foresight  had  been  exercised  in  the  early  planning 

of  the   city  when   all  was   free    and   open.    These 

three    places   are   around  the    north    edge   of  the   hills   along  the 

Allegheny,  around  the  south  edge  of  the  hills  along  the   Monon- 

gahela,  and    through    the     gap    in    the    hills    followed    by   Fifth 

Avenue  and  Forbes  Street. 

The  northerly  route  is  followed  by  Penn  and  Liberty  Avenues, 


Bridge  of  distinctive  character  at   Budapest 


EASTERN    ARTERIES    IMPROVEMENTS  7 

by  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  and  by  Grant  Boulevard  clinging 
to  the  hillside  above  the  railroad.  The  space  between  Penn 
Avenue  and  the  river  is  largely  occupied  by  railroads  and  by 
business  dependent  upon  the  railroads,  and  there  seems  to  be  no 
possibility  of  opening  any  new  line  for  relief,  except  in  so  far  as  a 
subway  might  reduce  the  number  of  people  inconvenienced  by 
delays  on  the  surface.  On  account  of  its  gradients  and  of  the 
districts  toward  which  it  leads  at  both  ends,  the  usefulness  of 
Grant  Boulevard  seems  likely  to  remain  confined  to  light  passenger 
traffic,  chiefly  automobiles.  In  any  case  all  the  teaming  and 
surface  traffic  of  a  very  large  region  must  be  carried  through 
the  throat  on  the  lower  level.  It  is  important  also  to  note  that 
the  only  street  which  passes  through  the  down  town  district 
with  more  than  village  dimensions — eighty-foot  Liberty  Avenue — 
leads  directly  to  this  throat  and  then  chokes  down  to  a  fifty-foot 
street. 

It  may  safely  be  said  that  increased  capacity  for  east  and  west 
general  traffic  north  of  the  hills  can  be  secured  only  by  a  radical 
widening  of  Liberty  Avenue  or  Penn  Avenue.  Upon  the  whole 
the  latter  seems  the  more  advantageous  route.  On  the  score  of 
cost  there  seems  to  be  but  little  choice  ;  on  the  score  of  value  in 
the  result  Penn  Avenue  is  the  better.  To  have  one  side  of  such 
an  important  avenue  flanked  by  a  railroad  to  the  exclusion  of 
general  business  frontage  would  make  it  less  agreeable  as  a 
thoroughfare  and  less  productive  as  a  real  estate  proposition. 
On  the  other  hand  if  Penn  Avenue  is  widened  the  narrow  portion 
of  Liberty,  above  Eleventh  Street  and  next  the  railroad,  will  be 
important  almost  solely  for  local  purposes ;  warehouses  or 
factories  could  be  erected  extending  through  from  the  principal, 
or  Penn  Avenue,  frontage  to  Liberty  Avenue,  and  could  be  pro- 
vided with  sidings  from  the  railroad   passing  over  Liberty. 

Further  details  as  to  this  suggested  widening  of  Penn  Avenue 
and  its  connections  eastward  are  given,  along  with  other  highway 
improvements,  in  Part  II  of  this  report.  But  considering  here 
only  its  relation  to  the  down  town  district,  this  widening  will 
undoubtedly  throw  increased  emphasis  upon  Penn  and  Liberty 
Avenues  as  traffic  lines  within  this  district ;  and  it  is  obvious 
that  a  good  cross-connection  should  be  provided  so  that  east- 
bound     traffic    coming    from    Liberty    Avenue    and    from    Grant 


8      PITTSBURGH-THE   DOWN    TOWN   DISTRICT 


Street,  as  well  as  from  Penn  Avenue,  can  freely  reach  the  widened 
portion  of  the  latter.  A  traffic  square  at  the  angle  in  front  of  the 
Union  Station,  where  the  broad  part  of  Liberty  Avenue  ends  and 
the  narrow  part  begins,  would  furnish  the  desired  connection. 
Fortunately  such  a  square  can  now  be  formed  with  the  destruc- 
tion of  but  few  buildings  and  those  of  relatively  little  cost.* 

The  street  along  the  Monongahela— Second  Avenue— although 
it  might  have  been  made  of  great  importance  and  value  by  proper 
planning  at  the  start,  cannot  at  the  present  time  be  greatly 
widened  without   the  most   serious  difficulties.    For  much  of  its 

length  it  is  pinched 
between  railroads 
and  industrial 
plants.  It  does  not 
lead  eastward  into 
any  district  com- 
parable in  popula- 
tion or  importance 
with  those  tapped 
by  Penn  and  Lib- 
erty Avenues,  and 
its  connection  west- 
ward through  the 
Point  District  is  narrow,  difficult  to  widen,  and  relatively  unim- 
portant. For  these  reasons  Second  Avenue,  although  it  must  be 
recognized  as  a  main  thoroughfare  and  should  be  improved  as 
much  as  practicable,  especially  as  far  east  as  the  Tenth  Street 
bridge,  is  not  of  such  first-class  importance  as  to  demand  radical 
enlargement  in  spite  of  all  obstacles. 

The  only  remaining  natural  outlet  to  the  east  is  that  occupied 
by  Fifth  Avenue  and  Forbes  Street  and  the  block  between  them. 
Neither  street  is  wide  enough  for  the  traffic  it  will  be  called 
upon  to  bear,  but  the  widening  of  Fifth  Avenue  would  be  so  costly 
as  to  be  almost  out  of  the  question.  For  many  reasons,  dis- 
cussed in  detail  in  Part  II,  the  widening  of  Forbes  Street  into  an 
ample  main  thoroughfare  seems  to  be  the  best  solution  of  the 
problem  here  presented. 

The  importance  of  this  route  and  of  its  future  traffic  burden 

*  See  Plan  of  the  Down  Town  District. 


Second  Avenue  between  Try  Street  and  the 
Tenth  Street  Bridge 


A    NEW  TRAFFIC   CENTER— SIXTH    AVENUE      9 

will  be  better  realized  when  it  is  understood  that  at  Soho  a 
direct  extension  can  be  made,  on  easy  gradients,  from  the  widened 
Forbes  Street  to  Fifth  Avenue,  the  street  which  can  more  easily 
be  widened  beyond  that  point;  and  further,  that,  a  little  to  the  east, 
a  new  and  greatly  needed  street  might  branch  off  to  the  right 
from  Forbes  Street  where  the  latter  turns  inland.  This  new  street 
would  continue  along  the  side  hill  above  the  river,  and  would 
provide  the  only  possible  convenient  outlet  from  the  down  town 
district  to  all  the  upland  regions  south  and  southwest  of  Squirrel 
Hill.  Thus  the  western  portion  of  Forbes  Street,  when  widened, 
would  carry  the  great  bulk  of  all  future  street  traffic  between  the 
down  town  district  and  the  whole  district  from  East  Liberty  to 
the  Monongahela  River  as  well  as  all  the  country  east  and  south- 
east of  that  triangle. 

The    intersection    of  Forbes  Street,  widened,  with 

^  ^^^  Sixth  Avenue,  extended,  is  likely  to  become  a  traffic 

Traffic  Center  ^     ,  n-  ^  l         i. 

center  of   the  utmost  consequence  to    rittsburgn. 

The  importance  of  the  Forbes  Street  route   to  the  eastward  has 

been  indicated  above  ;  Sixth  Avenue,  crossing  Fifth  Avenue  and 

Grant  Street,  leads  toward  the  Union  Station  and  toward  all  the 

northeast    part   of    the    business  district,  and  to  the  North  Side 

bridges;  a  new  bridge  and  tunnel  are  quite  likely  to  lead   from 

this  very  intersection    to    the  South    Side    and   the   South  Hills; 

from    this  center  a    good  connection    is   readily   obtainable   with 

Fourth,  Third,  and  Second  Avenues  and  with  the  southern  water 

front;  and  Diamond  Street  can  be  widened  at  moderate  expense 

so    as    to    continue    Forbes    Street    right    through    the    heart    of 

the  business  district. 

The  importance  of  Sixth  Avenue  between  Forbes 

and  Grant  Streets  has  been  pointed  out.    It  is  the 

natural  route  from  the  Union  Station    and  the    adjacent  freight 

yards  and  from  all  the  Allegheny  bridges  to  the  districts  fed  by 

Fifth  Avenue,  Forbes  Street,  the  proposed  South  Hills  bridge, 

and  Second  Avenue.    It   ought  to  be  widened  to  the  dimensions 

of  a  main  thoroughfare,  and   its  grade  ought  to  be  lessened.    Its 

stream   of  travel  splits  at   Grant  Street,  a  portion  turning  to  the 

left  into  the  other  part  of  Sixth  Avenue,  and  a  portion  turning 

to    the    right    along    Grant    Street    to    Liberty    Avenue    and    the 

freight  yards.    The  latter  obviously  is  a  very  important  line,  and 


lo    PITTSBURGH— THE   DOWN   TOWN   DISTRICT 

the  oflF-set  which  it  makes  at  Seventh  Avenue  is  so  serious  that 

the  corner  ought  to  be  cut. 

The  elimination  of  the  grade  crossing  of  Second 

r,^^    ^      .  Avenue    with  the  Panhandle  Road    at  Try  Street 

Grade  Crossing      ,  .  .  •' 

is    a    pressmg    improvement.       1  he    avenue    now 

descends  toward  the  railroad  from  both  directions,  and  the  best 

plan  appears  to  be  to  carry  it  over  the  tracks.    In  this  way  Second 

Avenue    would    connect    directly  (through    the    west    side  of   the 

Civic  Center)  with  Forbes  Street;  with  Fourth,   Fifth,  and  Sixth 

Avenues,  and  so  with  the  Union  Station  and  the  Allegheny  Valley; 

with  the  main  or  upper  deck  of    the  South  Hills  bridge  rising 

across  the  river  to  the  proposed  tunnel;  and  with  the  suggested 

lower  deck  of  that  bridge  leading  to  the  South  Side.    In  order 

to  secure  a  good  gradient,  the  westerly  approach  of  Second  Avenue 

should  start  from  Grant  Street,  rising  on  an    incline    or    viaduct 

through  the  so-called  park  and  the  street  on  one  side    of  it,  in 

order   to   pass    over    Ross    Street.     In    this    way    there  would  be 

no  interference    with   the    teaming    through    Ross    Street    to    the 

Baltimore  and  Ohio  freight  yards. 

Mention    should    here   be    made  of  a  plan,  which 

Second  Avenue       ••  ,       ^j-        i        ju-  -j        j^. 

^  .  ^^  _,  ^  It  IS  understood  is  already  being  considered,  to 
Freight  Yards  n  i    a 

develop  the  area  between   Second  Avenue  and  the 

river,  from  Try  Street  to  the  Tenth  Street  bridge,  for  freight  pur- 
poses. Even  now  the  connections  from  this  region  to  the  Tenth 
Street  and  Smithfield  Street  bridges,  and,  via  First  and  Second 
Avenues,  to  the  whole  Point  District,  are  good.  But  the  street 
changes  proposed  in  connection  with  the  traffic  center  at  Sixth 
Avenue  and  Forbes  Street  will  provide  greatly  improved  connec- 
tions directly  to  the  Point  District,  the  East  End  and  the  South 
Hills.  First  Avenue  and  Water  Street  would  enter  the  freight 
yard  underneath  the  Panhandle  and  the  proposed  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  local  tracks  ;  and  if  Second  Avenue  is  raised  to  go  over 
the  Panhandle  tracks,  as  recommended  above,  direct  entrances 
can  be  secured  to  the  second  or  third  floor  of  a  freight  house 
with  car  elevators  such  as  those  at  St.  Louis.  On  the  whole  this 
seems  like  a  good  place  for  a  large  distributing  freight  station. 

^  4i„  «  ..  The  Sixth  Avenue  improvement,  and  others  in  the 
The  "Hump  Cut"     ...  ,  i  •  ,       ,  •  r     , 

vicinity,  are    bound    up  with   the    question  or  the 

"Hump    Cut."      Pushing  to  one  side  all  differences    of    opinion 


THE    HUMP    CUT— A    CIVIC    CENTER 


1 1 


Grant  Boulevard 
Extension 


as  to  the  local  effect  of  the  proposed  cut, — Its  influence  on  land 
values,  and  the  share  of  the  cost  which  ought  to  be  borne  by 
abutters, — the  fact  stands  out  that  the  City  as  a  whole  needs  the 
improvement  in  order  to  clear  an  obstruction  from  some  of  its 
most  important  general  highways.  Another  fact,  seen  clearly 
from  this  larger  point  of  view,  Is  that  the  essential  matter  Is  to 
secure  a  radical  reduction  of  the  maximum  gradients  on  the  three 
great  thoroughfare  lines,  Sixth  Avenue,  Fifth  Avenue,  and  Dia- 
mond Street,  even  though  the  minor  streets  on  the  margins  of 
the  Hump  be  skimped.  Detailed  recommendations,  as  to  grad- 
ients, etc.,  are  discussed  in  Part  V  and  are  embodied  In  the 
accompanying  plans  and  profiles. 

Only  one  other  thoroughfare  problem  Is  involved 
with  the  "Hump  Cut,"  that  of  Grant  Boulevard 
extension.  Since  the  grade  of  Webster  Avenue  will 
be  considerably  lowered  in  connection  with  the  "Hump  Cut," 
and  the  buildings  along  Its  lower  end  greatly  damaged  in  any 
case,  by  far  the  best  ^"^^^^  "^^P; — 
plan      for     Grant    —132  y  fountain  st 

Boulevard  Is  to 
carry  It  straight 
through  to  Webster 
Avenue  and  to 
widen  the  lower  end 
of  the  latter  to  60 
feet,  as  far  as  Grant 
Street.  The  widen- 
ing of  Oliver  Avenue  to  50  feet  between  Grant  and  Smithfield 
Streets,  and  the  possible  widening  of  Strawberry  Way,  would, 
together  with  existing  streets,  provide  adequate  means  of  distribu- 
tion for  the  large  number  of  automobiles  using  the  boulevard, 
and  would  at  the  same  time  create  a  decided  local  improvement. 
The  location  of  a  Civic  Center,  where  the  city 
offices  can  be  grouped  in  a  convenient  and  digni- 
fied manner,  ought  to  connect  with  the  main  transportation  lines. 
It  ought,  If  possible,  to  embrace  the  county  buildings.  It  ought, 
If  possible,  to  occupy  land  which  Is  not  of  such  high  cost  as  to 
preclude  the  setting  apart  of  the  open  space  which  Is  requisite 
to  the  highest  dignity  and   beauty  of  public  buildings.    All  these 


Diagram  showing  the  distribution  of  automobiles  coming 
in  town  on  Grant  Boulevard 


A  Civic  Center 


12    PITTSBURGH— THE   DOWN   TOWN   DISTRICT 


MBdMn 

Huumn 

't    I    n  it  n  N  l: 
^    M  W  »•  »» 
It  It 


n  i-  «  ."! 


County  Buildings — the  northwest  side  of  the  proposed   Civic  Center 

advantages  are  embraced  to  a  high  degree  in  a  locality  now  so 
unpromising  and  unattractive  that  it  is  hard  not  to  feel  an  unfair 
prejudice   against   it. 

The  locality  in  question  lies  to  the  east  and  southeast  of 
the  present  county  buildings.  It  embraces  a  bit  of  low  ground 
occupied  by  the  little  Panhandle  station  and  local  freight  yard, 
surrounded,  except  for  the  county  buildings,  by  vacant  lands 
and  cheap  buildings  at  various  higher  levels,  mounting  on  the 
east  to  the  commanding  ridge  that  dominates  all  this  part  of 
the  city.  Through  this  locality  the  Forbes  and  Diamond  Street 
thoroughfare  and  the  South    Hills   and  Sixth  Avenue  thorough- 


Present  appearance  of  the  Civic  Center  site  from  the  rear  of  the  County  Buildings 


A    CIVIC    CENTER 


13 


Princes  Street  in  Edinburgh— an  interesting  example  of  a 
public  garden  built  over  a  railroad 


fare  will  pass.    Fifth   Avenue    borders  it  on  the  north,  and   Sec- 
ond Avenue  on  the    south.     It  is  flanked    on    the   northwest    by 

the  noble  and  dis- 
tinguished archi- 
tecture of  the  court 
house  and  the  jail 
—  masterpieces  of 
Richardson,  price- 
less examples  of 
the  work  of  one  of 
the  few  great  art- 
ists America  has 
yet  produced.  To 
the  west  a  new 
county  building  is  about  to  be  erected.  It  is  proposed  that  the 
central  area  of  low  ground,  occupied  by  the  railroad,  be  decked 
over  at  about  the  level  of  Fifth  Avenue,  and  that  a  great  public 
square  with  gar- 
dens be  laid  out 
thereon  somewhat 
after  the  manner  of 
the  celebrated  pub- 
lic gardens  built 
over  the  railroad 
at  Princes  Street, 
Edinburgh,  or,  in  a 
much  smaller  way, 
at  Park  Avenue, 
New  York.  Below 
the  structure  would 
simply  be  a  first 
class  station  and 
freight  sheds  of 
permanent  con- 
struction, with  sky- 
lights and  ventila- 
tors, at  suitable  lo- 
cations, piercing  a 

flat  roof  of  adequate        Suggestion  for  the  Municipal  Building  in  the  Civic  Center 


14    PITTSBURGH— THE    DOWN   TOWN   DISTRICT 

strength.  The  cost  of  construction  would  be  less  than  the  cost 
of  an  equal  area  of  land  Independently  acquired  for  an  open 
space  in  connection  with  a  Civic  Center  in  any  other  locality  that 
could  reasonably  be  considered. 


*•  I  S  t  "" 


■  > 

\ 

1 

Mf 

,1    1     'f 
1 

r 

f 

5 

> 

Sketch  of  the  proposed  Civic  Center  for  Pittsburgh,  looking  south.    The  crossing  of  tracks 
in  center  of  foreground  is  at  the  present  corner  of   Sixth  Avenue  and  Forbes  Street 

Along  the  east  side  of  this  square  or  garden,  in  the  form  of 
a  gradually  rising  terrace,  would  run  the  approach  to  the  new 
South  Hills  bridge  ascending  gently  from  Forbes  Street;  and  on 
the  east  side  of  this    again,   as  though   terraced    on  the  hillside, 


A    CIVIC    CENTER 


15 


would  be  the  principal  municipal 
building  culminating  in  a  tower 
which  would  spring  from  the 
highest  level  at  Bluff  Street,  where 
the  playground  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
College  could  be  utilized  as  a 
park.  The  group  enclosing  the 
square  would  be  completed  by 
another  building  at  the  north 
with  frontage  on  Forbes  Street, 
Fifth  Avenue,  and  Sixth  Avenue, 
and  by  a  low  building  on  the 
south  serving  to  screen  the  fac- 
tories and  freight  yards  south  of 
Second  Avenue  but  leaving  open 
the  view  of  the  opposite  hills. 
The  plan  and  the  sketch  perspec- 
tives indicate  in  a  general  way  the 
sort  of  architectural  development 
for  which  the  situation  appears 
to  call.  The  pronounced  and  un- 
symmetrical  differences  in  eleva- 
tion, the  slanting  grade  of  the  approach  to  the  great  South  Hills 
bridge,  the  irregular  and  picturesque  form  of  the  site  and  of  the 
existing  county  buildings,  all  seem  to  demand  a  certain  infor- 
mality and  picturesqueness  of  design.  These  peculiarities  of  the 
site  ought  to  be  welcomed  because  they  are  eminently  charac- 
teristic of   the    city  and    of  the  mountainous   region  in  which  it 

is  set.  Through- 
out the  city  and  its 
surroundings  the 
one  preeminent 
quality  of  an  agree- 
able sort  is  the 
bold  picturesque- 
ness of  the  land- 
scape—  the  deep 
ravines,    the     lofty 

Hillside  site  of  the  proposed   City   Hall  hills,      the      precipi- 


Retaining  wall  supporting  a  local 
park  at  Lyons — a  suggestion  for  the  bluff 
between  Second  Avenue  and  the  new 
City  Hall. 


The  Cathedral  Terrace  at  Bern;  a  suggestion  for  utilizing  a  high  situation  for 
public  buildings  and  grounds 


The  hillside  of  Ofen  at  Budapest,  an  interesting  treatment  of  the  slope  crowned 

by  a  public  building 


MARKET    STREET    WIDENING  17 

tous  declivities,  the  plunging  prospects  from  hilltops  into  the 
river  valleys — and  a  similar  quality  of  forcefulness,  activity,  and 
bold,  irregular  adaptation  of  means  to  ends,  is  to  be  felt  in  all 
the  more  dominant  and  impressive  worlcs  of  man  in  the  city— the 
steel  works,  the  bridges  and  viaducts,  the  jagged  sky-line  of  office 
buildings.  To  build  a  City  Hall  and  Civic  Center  of  scholastic 
formality,  appropriate  in  the  placid  surroundings  of  Paris,  would 
be  to  lose  a  great  esthetic  opportunity. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  overestimate  the  value,  to 
Diamond  Street  ^^^  future  convenience  prosperity  and  business 
Widening  efficiency  of  the  city,  of  carrying  the  Forbes  Street 

improvement  straight  through  to  a  junction  with  Liberty  Avenue 
on  the  Hne  of  Diamond  Street;  and  it  is  deemed  a  peculiarly 
fortunate  thing  that  this  is  the  only  east  and  west  line  in  the 
midst  of  the  business  district  where  a  wide  street  can  still  be 
put  through  without  destroying  any  considerable  number  of 
costly  modern  buildings. 

When  Diamond  Alley  was  widened,  in  part,  from  20  feet  to  50 
feet,  not  long  ago,  the  improvement  was  of  much  importance 
because  it  added  one  more  street  large  enough  for  general 
business  in  a  locality  where  there  was  a  great  demand  for 
business  frontage,  and  where  the  original  lots  were  of  very 
excessive  depth.  But  the  improvement  was  a  distinctly  local 
one  and  contributed  little  or  nothing  to  the  solution  of  the 
general  traffic  problem.  But  the  peculiar  relation  of  Diamond 
Street  to  the  general  system  of  main  traffic  lines  demands  a  much 
more  courageous  action  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  city.  In  con- 
nection with  the  widening  of  Forbes  Street,  it  should  be  con- 
verted into  a  thoroughfare  at  least  equal  in  width  to  Liberty 
Avenue.  A  glance  at  the  map  shows  the  convenient  and  equi- 
table location  of  Diamond  Street,  and  its  importance  as  a 
thoroughfare  to  supplement  Liberty  Avenue  in  handling  the  traffic 
of  the  Point  District. 

Coming,    as    it    does,   directly  opposite    the    Sixth 
Market  Street       ^^^^^^    bridge.   Market  Street  ought  to   be  a  very 
1  ening  important  cross-town  connection;  and   because  the 

buildings  are  generally  small  and  old,  and  most  of  the  lots  are  so 
deep  as  not  to  be  seriously  injured  by  curtailment,  a  widening 
is  suggested  throughout  its  length. 


i8    PITTSBURGH— THE   DOWN   TOWN    DISTRICT 


The  Market 


The  widening  of  Diamond  and  Market  Streets  makes  clear 
that  the  Diamond  Square  Market  site  should  not  be  occupied  in 
any  way  that  would  perpetuate  the  obstruction  offered  by  the 
present  use  of  the  square  to  through  travel.  The  need  is  not 
for  a  mere  mitigation  or  slight  improvement  of  the  present  con- 
ditions by  opening  little  archways  through  a  new  building  on 
the  Market  site,  but  for  a  radical  and  effective  clearance.  The 
space  was  originally  set  apart  as  an  open  public  square,  and  the 
complete  occupation  of  it  by  revenue-producing  buildings  was  a 
diversion  of  the  square  from  its  original  purpose — an  act  in 
general  accordance  with  the  unfortunately  short-sighted  policy 
which  has  done  much  to  bring  about  the  notably  congested  con- 
ditions prevailing  in  the  city  today. 

It  may  be  necessary  to  provide  elsewhere  for  the 
Market,    and     a    site    is    suggested    in    the    block 
between  Third  and  Fourth  Streets  on  Liberty  Avenue,  having  the 

great  advantage  of 
rail  connections. 
On  account  of  the 
character  of  the 
surrounding  coun- 
try, an  exception- 
ally large  propor- 
tion of  market 
supplies  comes  to 
Pittsburgh  by  rail 
and  must  continue 
to  do  so.  It  is 
highly   uneconomi- 

A  bridge  and  water  front  at  Pittsburgh — Monongahela  River  pol  oj^rj  adds  need- 
lessly and  considerably  to  the  congestion  of  the  streets,  to  unload 
the  market  supplies  from  the  railroad  a  full  mile  away  (as  is 
now  done)  and  to  then  haul  them  by  team  through  the  heart  of 
the  retail  district.* 

Within  the  interior  of  the  Point  District,  Diamond  and 
Market  Streets  widened,  supplemented  by  the  exisiting  Liberty 
Avenue,  appear  to  be  the  only  thoroughfares  of  Metropolitan 
dimensions  which  it  is  reasonable  to  provide  for.  But  around 
the  borders  of  the  district  there  is  much  that  ought  to  be  done. 

*A  general  discussion  of  the  Market  problem  is  included  in  Part  V. 


THE    WATER    FRONT 


19 


The  Water 
Front 


In  its  water  front    Pittsburgh    has  a  great    public 
asset  which  now  lies  undeveloped    both    from  the 
point  of  view  of  transportation  and   from  that  of 
recreation  and  civic  beauty. 

As  a  transportation  factor,  its  primary  use  is  for  the  trans- 
shipment of  water- 
born  commodities. 
As  discussed  else- 
where,* the  actual 
amount  of  river 
freight  is  at  pres- 
ent relatively  small; 
but  it  is  potentially 
important,  and  one 
of  the  reasons  for 
its  lack  of  growth 
is    the    neglect    of 

Primitive  commercial  quay  at  Pittsburgh— Allegheny  River         Pittsburgh    and 

other  river  ports  to  provide  for  the  quick,  convenient,  and  eco- 
nomical handling  of  river-born  traffic  at  the  public  wharf. 

At  river  ports  throughout  the  world,  the  first  primitive  step, 
beyond  the  mere  dumping  of  stuff  and  passengers  on  the  natural 
shelving  bank  or  river  bed  of  mud  or  gravel,  is  the  paving  of 
the  slope,  as  at  Pittsburgh,  still  leaving  the  goods  to  be  dragged 
up  and  down  the  bank  by  main  force.  But  among  the  live 
modern  river  cities 
of  Europe,  wher- 
ever a  real  water 
competition  with 
rail  service  has 
been  desired,  even 
though  such  com- 
petition be  limited 
in  its  range,  the 
day  of  the  primi- 
tive or  mud-bank 
type    of   shore  has 

long  gone   by;    and  Berlin  water  front,  both  useful  and  attractive 

*The  City  and  the  Allegheny  River  Bridges,  Part  V. 


20    PITTSBURGH— THE    DOWN   TOWN    DISTRICT 

the  public  wharf  has  been  reconstructed  into  one  of  the  many 
well-recognized  types  of  commercial  enbanlcment  providing  an 
up-to-date  equipment  for  handling  freight,  and  decent,  attractive 
conditions  for  passengers.  This  development  of  the  public  wharf 
properties  in  Europe  has  kept  pace  with  the  activities  of  the 
railroads,  making  for  the  steady  and  intelligent  improvement  of 
terminal  facilities.    Indeed   in  many  European  river  ports  the  im- 


Frankfurt's  double  use  of  its  river  front,  for  business  and  for  pleasure 

provement  of  the  water  terminals  has  rather  forced  the  pace  for 
the  railroads. 

In  contrast  to  this  active  aggressive  spirit,  Pittsburgh,  like 
most  American  river  towns,  where  she  has  not  actually  turned 
her  water  front  over  bodily  to  the  railroads,  has  left  it  in  a  most 
inefficient  primitive  condition. 

But  the  value  of  Pittsburgh's  water  front  lies  not  merely  in 
its  use  as  a  wharf,  however  much  improved.  Another  use,  shown 
by  the  varied  experiences  of  other  river  cities,  is  that,  in  a  com- 
mercial water  front  on  modern  lines,  there  is  generally  opportunity 
for  a  wide  marginal  thoroughfare  for  the  relief  of  traffic  congestion 
in  the  adjacent  streets.  Sometimes  such  a  water-front  thoroughfare 
becomes  a  busy  avenue  of  retail  trade  and  general  travel;  but 
more  usually  its  peculiar  value  lies  in  diverting  some  of  the  main 
streams  of  heavy  teaming  from  the  older  interior  streets  where  the 
retail  trade  and  office  business  tend  to  concentrate,  and  where  the 


THE    WATER    FRONT 


21 


passenger  travel  is  most  dense.  Especially  with  an  isolated  and 
limited  business  district  like  that  of  Pittsburgh,  made  up  almost 
wholly  of  narrow  streets  and  connected  with  the  rest  of  the  city 
by  a  series  of 
bridges  and  of 
bridge-like  gaps  in 
the  hills  which  wall 
it  in,  it  becomes  of 
the  utmost  impor- 
tance to  secure  the 
formation  of  a 
wide  circuit  street 
connecting  these 
outlets  together,  so 
that  not  all  the 
travel  is  forced  to 


Shaded  promenade  upon  the  embankment  that  protects 
Lyons  from  the  floods  of  the  Rhone 


filter    slowly    through    the    midst    of    the    business    district. 

A  third  undeveloped  asset  of  the  Pittsburgh  water  front  is 
its  value  for  recreation  and  as  an  element  of  civic  comeliness  and 
self-respect.  One  of  the  deplorable  consequences  of  the  short- 
sighted and  wasteful  commercialism  of  the  later  nineteenth  cen- 
tury lay  in  its  disregard  of  what  might  have  been  the  esthetic 
by-products  of    economic  improvement;    in  the  false  impression 

spread  abroad  that 
economical  and 
useful  things  were 
normally  ugly;  and 
in  the  vicious  idea 
which  followed, 
that  beauty  and  the 
higher  pleasures  of 
civilized  life  were 
to  be  sought  only 

View  of  the  same   water  front   at  Lyons,  showing  the  '^  things   Otherwise 

commercial  quay  USeleSS.      ThuS    the 

pursuit  of  beauty  was  confounded  with  extravagance. 

Among  the  most  significant  illustrations  of  the  fallacy  of  such 
ideas  are  the  comeliness  and  the  incidental  recreation  value  which 
attach  to  many  of  the  commercial  water  fronts  of  European  river 


22    PITTSBURGH-THE    DOWN    TOWN    DISTRICT 

ports,  and  it  is  along  such  lines  that   Pittsburgh  still  has  oppor- 
tunity for  redeeming  the  sordid  aspect  of  its  business  center. 

Wherever  in  the  world,  as  an  incident  of  the  highways  and 
wharves  along  its  riverbanks,  a  city  has  provided  opportunity 
for  the  people  to  walk  and  sit  under  pleasant  conditions  where 
they  can  watch  the  water  and  the  life  upon  it,  where  they  can 
enjoy  the  breadth  of  outlook  and  the  sight  of  the  open  sky  and 
the  opposite  bank  and  the  reflections  in  the  stream,  the  result 
has  added  to  the  comeliness  of  the  city  itself,  the  health  and 
happiness  of  the  people  and  their  loyalty  and  local  pride.  This 
has  been  true  in  the  case  of  a  bare,  paved  promenade,  running 
along  like  an  elevated  railroad  over  the  sheds  and  tracks  and 
derricks    of    a    busy    ocean    port,   as    at    Antwerp;    in    the    case 


How  Paris  appreciates  the  value  of  its  river  trontage 


of  a  tree-shaded  sidewalk  along  a  commercial  street  with  the 
river  quays  below  it,  as  at  Paris  and  Lyons  and  hundreds  of 
lesser  cities;  and  in  the  case  of  a  broad  embankment  garden 
won  from  the  mud-banks  by  dredging  and  filling,  as  at  London. 
Pittsburgh  has  an  unusual  opportunity  to  secure  this  incidental 
value  for  recreation  in  the  treatment  of  its  river  front.  Imme- 
diately across  the  Monongahela  are  the  high  and  rugged  hillsides 
of  Mt.  Washington  and  Duquesne  Heights,  and  below  these 
are  the  lesser  but  still  striking  hills  along  the  Ohio  River  from 
the  West  End    to  McKees  Rocks.    The  outlook  over  the  river 


THE    WATER    FRONT 


23 


with  its  varied  activities  to  these  hills  immediately  beyond,  would 
be  notable  in  any  part  of  the  world.  Furthermore,  the  rivers  and 
the  hills  are  the  two  big  fundamental  natural  elements  charac- 
teristic of  the  Pitts- 
burgh District. 
Thus,  any  provis- 
ion close  to  the 
heart  of  the  city, 
whereby  the  peo- 
ple can  have  the 
enjoyment  of  these 
mighty  landscapes, 
is  of  peculiar  im- 
portance. 

It  does  not  di- 
minish the  essen- 
tial grandeur  of 
the    situation    that 


The  outlook  from  The  Point,  Pittsburgh 


the  river  swarms  with  barges  and  steamers;  that  it  is  spanned 
by  busy  bridges;  that  the  flat  lands  along  the  rivers  are  crowded 
with  railroads,  buildings  and  smoking  factories;  and  that  the 
hillsides  are  crowned  with  houses.  It  is  a  spacious  and  impressive 
landscape  in  any  case.  But  for  the  people  to  get  the  good  of 
it  two  things  are  needful.  A  locally  agreeable  place  must  be 
provided  from  which  the  scene  can  be  enjoyed  ;  and  the  land- 
scape must  be  treated  with  the  respect  which  it  deserves,  by  the 
elimination  of  certain  features  which  are  merely  indicative  of 
neglect,  waste,  and 
abuse,     and    which 


have  no  economic 
justification.  Es- 
pecially is  it  desir- 
able that  the  pre- 
cipitous hillside  ris- 
ing to  Mt.  Wash- 
ington, now  largely 
an  unfruitful  waste, 
a  place  of  raw  gul- 


leys  and  slides  min-  Mt.  Washington  hillside  from  the  Monongahela  water  front 


24    PITTSBURGH-THE    DOWN   TOWN    DISTRICT 

gled  with  some  painful  advertising  signs,  should  be  treated  with 
respect  as  a  vital  part  of  the  great  landscape  of  the  city.  It 
should  be  protected  from  defacement  and  its  earthy  portions 
should  be  reclothed  with  the  beauty  of  foliage. 

The  accompanying  illustrations  are  suggestive  of  the  sort  of 
thing  which  might  be  done  by  Pittsburgh  with  its  remaining 
public  water  front,  and  in  time,  let  us  hope,  with  portions  of  the 
water  front  which  have  passed  into  private  hands.  But  the  actual 
details  of  the  treatment  to  be  adopted   can  be  properly  worked 


Water  front  and  hillside  at  Lyons 

out  only  in  connection  with  the    comprehensive    plans  for  flood 
protection  with  which  the  Flood  Commission  is  now  grapphng. 

The  great  majority  of  river  cities  which  have  undertaken 
modern  improvements  on  their  water  fronts  have  had  to  deal 
with  more  or  less  serious  flood  problems,  and  the  complex  and 
varying  conditions  of  each  river  have  had  an  important  influence 
on  the  design  of  the  embankment.  The  technical  problems 
involved  in  the  control  of  rivers  are  among  the  most  complex  and 
baffling  with  which  the  engineering  profession  has  to  deal,  and 
any  attempt  to  forestall  the  investigations  of  the  Flood  Commis- 
sion, by  definite  plans  for  permanent  improvements  on  the  water 
front,  would  be  folly.  Nevertheless,  the  experience  of  hundreds 
of  cities  and  the  work  of  thousands  of  engineers  have  developed 
certain  types  of  treatment,  one  or  more  of   which,  with  suitable 


THE    WATER    FRONT  25 

local  modifications,  will  pretty  surely  appear  in  the  final  solution 
of  the  Pittsburgh  problem.  Subject,  therefore,  to  the  conclusions 
of  the  Flood  Commission,  a  satisfactory  development  of  the  Pitts- 
burgh wharf  may  be  expected  to  include  the  following  features. 

First,  there  should  be  an  amply  wide  water-front  street,  pre- 
sumably formed  by  extending  Water  Street  and  Duquesne  Way 
over  the  upper  part  of  the  present  sloping  bank.  Second,  the 
outer  sidewalk  of  this  street  should  become  at  most  points  a 
tree-shaded  promenade,  of  such  width  and  with  such  equipment 
of  benches  and  other  features  for  public  recreation  as  the  circum- 
stances permit,  so  arranged  that  the  people  using  it  will  neither 
be  in  the  way  of  the  transportation  activities  nor  be  annoyed  or 
endangered  by  them,  and  so  designed  that  the  people  can  enjoy 
to  the  full  the  natural  beauty  of  the  river  valley  and  the  always 
interesting  activities  of  which  it  is  the  stage.  Third,  there  should 
be  next  the  water  a  commercial  quay,  substantially  level,  of 
adequate  but  not  unnecessary  width,  and  accessible  from  the 
streets  by  inclined  roads  of  reasonable  gradient,  parallel  with  the 
river,  in  place  of  the  present  excessive  slopes. 

In  the  first  typical  section  here  given  is  shown  one  such 
arrangement.  Here,  the  level  of  the  promenade  is  such  that  its 
solid  parapet  rises  above  the  maximum  flood  level.  This  is  of 
a  type  adopted  for  rivers  that  are  subject  to  occasional  excessive 
floods,  as  at  Pittsburgh.  It  assumes  the  embankment  to  be  made 
water-tight;  the  sewers  and  drains  to  be  provided  with  proper 
back-pressure  gates,  and  the  openings  from  the  streets,  through 
the  promenade  and  its  parapet  to  the  commercial  quay,  to  be 
arranged  for  prompt  damming  on  the  rise  of  the  water  above 
the  danger  level.  Thus  would  the  entire  business  district  be 
protected  from  floods,  not  only  on  the  surface  but  also  in  the 
basements.  The  quay  shown  on  this  section  is  supposed  to  be 
at  a  level  just  above  ordinary  navigable  stages,  and  to  be 
equipped  with  power  cranes  for  direct  loading  and  unloading 
between  steamers  or  barges,  tied  up  at  the  quay,  and  wagons 
upon  it.  Provision  could  also  be  made  for  a  freight  track  run- 
ning in  alongside  the  cranes  for  transfer  between  cars  and  vessels 
(if  thought  desirable),  in  addition  to  the  facilities  provided  on 
railroad  property.  Alongside  the  quay,  floating  landing-stages  for 
packets  and  so  forth,  reached  by  gang-planks  or  bridges,  would 


'\i 


Typical  section  for  the  water  front.  The  parapet  along  the  promenade  would  be 
above  extreme  flood  height  ;  the  commercial  quay  would  be  at  a  lower  level,  flooded 
at  very  high  water,  but  above  ail  ordinary  river  stages. 


Alternative  section  for  the  water  front,  suggesting  a  floating  commercial  quay  that 
would  rise  and  fall  with  the  river.  Large  cranes  could  transfer  freight  directly  from  the 
boats  to  trucks  at  the  street  level.  At  certain  places  roadways  would  cut  through  the 
promenade  to  provide  access  to  ramps  leading  down  to  the  quays  and  to  provide  places  for 
freight  trucks  to  stand  while  being  loaded  and  unloaded. 


THE    WATER    FRONT  27 

be  provided  as  at  present,  but  in  a  more  decent  and  commo- 
dious style. 

This  section  is  of  a  type  tested  by  practical  experience  and  is 
clearly  a  great  improvement  upon  the  present  primitive  conditions. 
But  it  is  open  to  two  objections:  first,  that  the  quay  is  flooded 
at  intervals,  although  so  designed  as  to  sufifer  no  injury  and  to  be 
put  out  of  commission  only  when  the  river  is  practically  closed  to 
navigation  by  the  height  of  the  flood;  and,  second,  that  at  low 
water,  that  is  to  say  "pool  full,"  it  is  not  at  the  most  convenient 
height. 

An  alternative  section  is  therefore  suggested,  which  has  less 
precedent  behind  it,  but  which  might  prove  better  adapted  to  the 
Pittsburgh  conditions.  In  this  the  fixed  level  of  the  commercial 
quay  is  replaced  by  a  continuous  landing  stage  formed  of  long 
floats  or  barges,  of  permanent  construction,  moored  against  the 
wall  and  free  to  rise  and  fall  with  the  changing  level  of  the  river. 
The  approaches  to  the  floating  quay  for  wagons  would  be,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  fixed  quay,  by  descending  inclines  parallel  with 
the  river  just  outside  the  main  wall;  but  in  this  case  the  roadway 
would  be  formed  by  a  line  of  barges  which  would  rest  on  a 
fixed  incline  during  low  water.  The  rising  water  would  lift  the 
barges  off  the  incline  successively,  beginning  with  the  lowest, 
so  that  at  all  stages  of  the  water  they  would  maintain  an  uninter- 
rupted roadway  to  the  quay  on  a  proper  gradient.  Successful 
precedents  for  such  use  of  permanent  floating  quays,  and  of 
alternately  floating  and  grounded  driveways  to  the  landing  stage, 
are  to  be  found  in  Italy  and  in  the  recent  harbor  developments  at 
Manaos,  Brazil. 

A  great  advantage  of  the  floating  quay  is  that  in  this  type  of 
construction  the  bed  of  the  river  may  be  excavated  to  its  full 
depth  back  to  the  face  of  the  flood  wall  itself,  and  that  the  space 
necessary  for  the  commercial  quay  is  secured  on  the  floating 
structure  outside  of  this  line  without  materially  reducing  the 
prism,  or  section,  of  the  flood  discharge.  It  would  therefore  be 
possible,  with  this  design,  to  secure  more  ample  width  for  street, 
for  promenade,  and  for  commercial  quay,  and  at  the  same  time 
have  more  space  in  the  river  for  the  passage  of  the  floods. 

Whatever  may  prove  to  be  the  best  details  of  the  river-front 
treatment,  it  is  clear  that  it  can    and    should   provide   an    ample 


28    PITTSBURGH— THE    DOWN   TOWN    DISTRICT 

thoroughfare,  a  clean,  pleasant,  tree-shaded  promenade,  and 
a  convenient,  up-to-date  wharf  with  easy  access  to  and  from  the 
streets.  There  is  no  serious  difficulty  in  providing  for  such  an 
improvement  from  the  junction  of  the  two  bridges  at  The  Point 
to  Ninth  Street,  on  the  Allegheny,  and  to  Smithfield  Street,  on 
the   Monongahela. 

East  of  Smithfield  Street  the  passenger  station  of  the  Balti- 
more &  Ohio  now  blocks  the  way.  But  it  is  not  unreasonable  to 
expect  that  the  main  Baltimore  &  Ohio  station  will,  before  long, 
be  moved  to  some  point  in  Junction  Hollow  in  order  to  avoid 
the  long  delay,  to  all  through  trains,  caused  by  the  run  down  to 
Smithfield  Street  and  back  again.  The  suburban  business  of  the 
Baltimore  &  Ohio  could  then  be  turned  in,  parallel  with  the 
Panhandle  tracks,  to  a  new  joint  suburban  station  in  connection 
with  the  important  future  center  of  traffic  near  the  junction  of 
Forbes  and  Diamond  Streets  with  Sixth  Avenue  and  the  proposed 
South  Hill  bridge. 

When  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  passenger  station  is  removed 
from  Smithfield  Street  it  would  be  possible  to  continue  the  new 
water-front  street  and  promenade  east  of  Smithfield  on  a  viaduct 
just  outside  of  the  present  Water  Street;  this  viaduct  would  rise 
over  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  freight  yard  and  the  grade  entrances 
thereto  at  Grant  and  Ross  Streets,  and  so  connect  along  the  line 
of  the  Panhandle  (Try  Street)  with  the  proposed  Second  Avenue 
bridge  over  the  railroad,  and  thence  with  Forbes  Street  and 
Sixth  Avenue. 

Any  better  connection  than  now  exists  from  Ninth  Street  and 
Duquesne  Way  to  Liberty  Avenue  would  be  so  costly  as  to  seem 
hardly  worth  while,  although  it  would  be  a  much-desired  link 
in  the  circuit  thoroughfare. 

It  is  probably  impossible  for  Pittsburghers,  who  are  familiar 
with  the  present  neglected  aspect  of  the  water  front  and  are 
not  familiar  with  the  finer  European  quays,  to  form  any  concep- 
tion of  how  fine  a  situation  will  be  created  for  public  or  private 
buildings,  especially  on  the  southern  water  front  when  thus 
improved.  If  it  were  not  so  much  to  one  side  of  the  main 
streams  of  passenger  travel,  the  river  frontage  between  Smithfield 
and  Ferry  Streets  would  offer  a  most  admirable  site  for  public 
buildings  in  the  down  town  district. 


THE    IMPROVEMENT    OF  THE    POINT 


29 


At  the  opposite  end  of  the  business  district  from 

e   ™P^ov6         the  proposed  Civic  Center  is  another  spot  where 
ment  of  The  ,         .    .  .,         ^  „.       ,  ,       ,       ,,    ,      \     ,      ^. 

Pq.j^^  the  CIVIC  pride  or  Pittsburgh  should  lead  the  City 

to  make    liberal    expenditures    for  other   than    the 

economic  ends  which  justify  those  Street  improvements  which  are 

the  main  burden  of  this  report. 

At  the  end  of  The  Point,  where  the  two  lines  of  water-front 

improvement  would    join,  is  a  considerable  area  of  public  open 

space.    Here  is  the  spot  where  the  Ohio  River  has  its  birth  :  here 


Water  front  park  and  an  interesting  bridge  at  Bonn,  Germany 

was  built  the  fort  which  broke  the  peace  of  Europe  and  around 
which  turned  the  frontier  struggles  of  the  war  that  gave  America 
to  the  English  speaking  race.  It  is  here  that  all  the  most  inspiring 
associations  of  the  city  are  chiefly  concentrated.  Poetically,  this 
spot,  at  the  meeting  of  the  rivers,  stands  for  Pittsburgh. 

Because  the  eastward  drift  of  the  business  center  has 
followed  the  eastward  drift  of  residences,  and  the  growth  of 
business  has  not  yet  expanded  back  to  fill  the  void  ;  and  because 
The  Point  is  left  pocketed  beyond  the  freight  yards,  and  is  visited 
only  by  the  throngs  who  use  the  old  Point  bridge,  it  seems  to  be 
rather  forgotten  and  disregarded  by  most  Pittsburghers.  But  its 
historical  and  topographical  significance  can  never  be  altered, 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  City  will  rise  to  its  opportunity 
and  nobly  form  The  Point  into  a  great  monument. 


30    PITTSBURGH-THE    DOWN   TOWN    DISTRICT 

The  North  Point  bridge  is  about  to  be  rebuilt;  the  South 
Point  bridge  is  very  narrow  and  some  day  must  be  rebuilt  in  its 
own  turn.  In  the  placing  of  these  bridges,  in  every  feature  of 
their  design  and  of  the  design  and  decoration  of  their  approaches, 
the  monumental  element  ought  always  to  control.  The  plan 
shown  herewith  in  outline  is  an  attempt  to  solve,  in  a  dignified 
and  monumental  way,  the  obvious  problems  presented  by  the 
bridges  and  the  means  of  approach  to  them.  Whether  just  this 
plan  or  some  better  one  be  adopted,  it  is  essential  that  the  whole 
Point  be  regarded  as  one  single  monument,  that  no  pains  be 
spared  in  bringing  the  best  artistic  skill  to  bear  in  working  out 
the  details  of  the  plan,  and  that  the  general  plan,  when  thus 
worked  out,  shall  really  determine  the  construction  of  all  the 
parts.  At  any  time  conditions  may  arise,  as  in  regard  to  one  of 
the  bridges,  for  which  the  general  plan  does  not  exactly  provide; 
but,  if  so,  the  plan  should  be  adapted  as  a  whole  to  meet  the  new 
conditions,  so  that  work  may  still  proceed  in  accordance  with  a 
complete  plan.  Never  can  a  single  feature  of  The  Point  safely  be 
designed  independent  of  the  rest,  if  worthy  results  are  to  be 
obtained.  And  what  is  true  of  this  great  monumental  feature 
is  true  in  large  measure  of  all  public  improvements  in  relation 
to    a   comprehensive  city  plan. 


PART   II 


Main    T'horoM^hfares 


IN  considering  the  economical  widths  for  the  main  thorough- 
fares of  a  city,  so  many  complex  factors   are  involved  that 
no   exact   and  indisputable  conclusions  can  be  reached;  but 
there  are  certain  facts  and  principles  that  ought  to  remove  such 
decisions    from     the     realm    of    purely    arbitrary 

^/  ^    °  ^  whim  and  custom  by  which  they  are  now  generally 

Thoroughfares  ,     ,       r.         •      n  i  •       t  i 

settled.    Practically  every  normal  mam  tnorougn- 

fare,    even    of    the    most    compact    type,    must    provide    for    car 

tracks  in  the  middle.    On  straight  runs,  according  to  the   present 

practice  and  with  the  new  cars  in  Pittsburgh,  the  width  occupied 

from  the  outside  of  one  car  to  the  outside  of  the  other  is   17  feet 

8^2    inches.     At    that,   the    cars    are    narrower    than  the    modern 

standard    in    some     other    American     cities,    and    the    clearance 

between  the  cars  is  reduced  to  less  than  a  reasonable  requirement 

for  safety.    On  curving  roads,  such  as  the  Pittsburgh  topography 

often  imposes,  the  space  occupied  is  greater.    Without  allowing 

any  clearance  on   the  outside,  a   space   not   less  than  18  feet,  and 

preferably    more,    should     be    allowed    for    the    actual    cars    on 

straight    runs. 

In    Pittsburgh,   the    gauge   of   the   car   tracks    was   originally 

made  to  conform  to  the  prevailing  local  gauge  of  other  vehicles, 

on  the  mistaken  theory  that  it  was  desirable  to  have  the  smooth 

tracks   used    by  wagons;    and    this    has  resulted    in    the    almost 

invariable  conformity  of  the  wagon  gauge  to  that  of  the  tracks, 

regardless   of    the    size    or    character   of   the   vehicle.    With    the 

added   fact  that   Pittsburgh  pavements  are  prevailingly  bad,  and 

that   the  form  of  rail  is  such  that  it  is  very  difficult  for  a  wagon 

to  turn  out  when  it  has  once  got  into  the  track,  the  teamsters  m 

Pittsburgh  are  more  inveterate  in  the  habit  of  driving  in  the  car 

tracks,  and   less   ready  to  turn    aside   for  cars   or  other  vehicles, 

than  in  most  cities.    The  severe  and  constantly  repeated  strain  of 

the  horses,  which  is  required  to  wrench  heavily-loaded  wagons  free 

(31) 


32  PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

from  the  tracks,  is,  In  the  aggregate,  a  serious  economic  loss;  and 
the  delays  not  only  to  the  street  cars  but  to  all  forms  of  wheeled 
traffic,  caused  by  the  conditions  described,  are  incalculably  great. 
But  even  good  pavements  and  the  use  of  a  grooved  rail  would 
not  cure  the  trouble  in  Pittsburgh  streets  as  now  laid  out, 
because,  almost  universally,  there  is  not  sufficient  room  for  a 
vehicle  to  pass  between  the  cars  and  another  vehicle  standmg  or 
slowly  moving  next  the  curb. 

In  every  street,  vehicles  must  be  free  to  stop  for  loading  and 
unloading,  and  on  a  busy  thoroughfare  the  space  next  the  curb 
is  so  much  used  in  this  manner  as  to  become  merely  a  series  of 
sidings  into  which  slow-moving  vehicles  can  turn  from  time  to 
time  in  order  to  clear  the  main  passageway.  The  result  of  the 
conditions  above  described  is  that  practically  the  whole  wheeled 
traffic  in  Pittsburgh  streets  is  inevitably  concentrated  on  the 
eighteen-foot  width  where  the  cars  run.  The  extent  to  which  this 
reduces  the  average  speed  of  travel  and  the  total  capacity  of  the 
thoroughfare  has  been  strikingly  illustrated  for  Pittsburghers  by 
the  contrast  of  the  former  sluggish  congestion  of  traffic  on 
Smithfield  Street  with  the  sparse  appearance  and  rapid  move- 
ment of  the  same  traffic  since  the  "one-way"  regulations  have 
made  it  possible  to  get  one  free  line  in  each  direction  for  moving 
vehicles  separate  from  the  cars.  The  same  striking  increase  in 
capacity  is  to  be  secured,  without  the  grave  inconveniences  and 
drawbacks  of  the  "one-way  street"  regulations,  where  the  space 
between  the  cars  and  the  curb  can  be  made  wide  enough  for 
two  lines  of  vehicles,  instead  of  just  enough  for  one  or  for  one 
and  a  half,  as  is  usual  in  Pittsburgh. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  determine  just  what  is  the  most  econom- 
ical allowance  of  width.  There  is  much  variation  in  the  widths  of 
the  vehicles  themselves,  and  the  necessary  amount  of  clearance 
varies  with  the  average  skill  of  the  drivers  and  with  the  effective- 
ness of  the  police  control.  The  width  of  the  line  is  plainly  deter- 
mined by  the  widest  vehicles  in  it  rather  than  by  the  narrowest. 
In  Pittsburgh  the  customary  width  of  the  heavier  and  wider 
wagons  Is  now  controlled  by  the  practical  necessity  of  fitting  the 
wheels  to  the  railway  gauge  of  5  feet  2>^  inches,  and  the  widths 
are  considerably  less  than  prevail  in  New  York,  Boston,  and  other 
reasonably  well-paved  cities  where  the  wagons    are  not  fitted  to 


WIDTH   OF  THOROUGHFARES  33 

the  car  tracks.  About  7  feet  over  all  is  now  the  ordinary 
maximum  in  Pittsburgh,  a  few  auto  trucks  and  delivery  vans 
exceeding  that  figure  slightly,  and  an  occasional  three-horse  team 
occupying  over  8  feet.  In  New  York  and  Boston,  wagons 
measuring  from  7  to  8  feet  from  hub  to  hub  are  common,  and 
they  sometimes  considerably  exceed  8  feet. 

Just  as  in  the  case  of  steam  and  electric  railway  equipment, 
the  tendency  is  constantly  in  the  direction  of  heavier,  longer, 
wider  vehicles,  for  the  sake  of  the  operating  economy  due  to 
large  units;  and,  with  the  steady  increase  in  the  use  of  motor 
vehicles  for  business  purposes,  this  tendency  is  likely  to  be 
greatly  accelerated.  There  is  every  reason  to  expect  that  motor 
trucks  will  gradually  increase  in  size  until  a  limit  is  fixed  by  the 
public  authorities  in  order  to  protect  the  pavements,  and  for  the 
sake  of  standardizing  the  lines  of  travel  in  relation  to  the  street 
widths.  But,  in  the  interests  of  economy  of  operation,  the  limit 
should  be  as  high  as  practicable,  probably  not  less  than  8  feet. 

If  8  feet  be  allowed  for  each  vehicle,  plus  only  a  foot  of 
clearance,  the  cars  and  one  row  of  vehicles  on  each  side,  between 
them  and  the  vehicles  standing  at  the  curb,  would  require  54  feet 
between  curbs.  A  wagon  backed  up  to  the  curb  on  a  busy  street 
will  seriously  discommode  travel  at  that,  and  the  clearance  allowed 
is  very  small.  A  width  of  54  to  60  feet  between  curbs  is,  there- 
fore, highly  desirable  in  the  main  thoroughfares. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  with  the  widths  of  vehicles  which  now 
prevail  in  Pittsburgh,  if  standing  and  slow-moving  vehicles  are 
compelled  to  keep  in  contact  with  the  curb,  it  is  possible  to  keep 
open  a  line  of  travel  on  each  side  of  the  car  tracks,  with  only 
occasional  blockades,  where  the  width  between  curbs  is  50  feet, 
or,  at  a  pinch,  even  48  or  47  feet.  That  is  to  say,  the  difference 
in  traffic  capacity  between  a  thoroughfare  50  feet  from  curb  to 
curb  and  one  45  feet  is  enormous;  while  the  difference  between 
45   feet  and  40  feet  is  very  slight. 

Since  a  main  thoroughfare  is  apt  in  time  to  become  a  retail 
trading  street,  wide  sidewalk  space  is  important.  It  is  a  common 
rule  to  make  the  distance  of  the  curb  from  the  property  line  one- 
third   the  width  of  the  roadway. 

A  total  width  of  90  feet,  with  a  54-foot  roadway  and  18-foot 
sidewalks,   is    a    satisfactory   minimum    for   meeting   the    practical 


34  PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

requirements  of  an  ordinary  main  traffic  street;  a  width  of  lOO 
feet  is  preferable,  and  80  feet  may  be  regarded  as  a  rather  nig- 
gardly irreducible  minimum. 

In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  the  standard 
widths  adopted  in  European  cities.  The  standard  in  London 
is  48  feet*  between  curbs  and  80  feet  between  buildings  for 
secondary  avenues,  and  100  feet  over  all  for  principal  arteries; 
and  140  feet  over  all  is  proposed  for  two  great  main  arteries,  the 
cutting  of  which,  through  the  midst  of  the  city,  is  being  consid- 
ered. In  German  cities  of  the  second  size,  such  as  Leipzig, 
Frankfort  and  Hanover,  the  standards  are  as  follows:  for  strictly 
local  streets,  33  to  47  feet;  for  secondary  thoroughfares,  50  to  80 
feet,  and  for  main  thoroughfares,  85  to  118  feet.  A  Prussian  law, 
in  force  since  1875,  and  apparently  drawn  up  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  Berlin  with  its  heavier  traffic,  requires  the  following 
dimensions  for  the  laying  out  of  new  streets  and  for  the  alteration 
of  old  ones:  local  streets,  40  to  65  feet;  secondary  thoroughfares, 
65  to  95  feet;  main  thoroughfares,  over  95  feet.f 

The     above     considerations     apply    only    to    the 

pecia      ype  ordinary  main  thoroughfares  of  normal  character. 

Thoroughfares  ^  =..  111 

In  most  of  the    great   cities    of    the  world,  there 

has  been  a  considerable  development  of  special  thoroughfares 
of  much  greater  width,  including,  for  example,  locations  for 
transportation  lines  (surface  or  elevated),  on  separate  rights  of 
way  decorated  with  trees ;  and  including  tree-shaded  prome- 
nades and  garden  strips.  These  have  usually  been  laid  out 
in  suburban  sections  before  they  were  much  built  up ;  or,  if 
within  the  built-up  districts,  on  the  sites  of  old  fortifications, 
canals,  or  other  abandoned  engineering  works.  The  latter 
opportunities  are  lacking  at  Pittsburgh,  except  in  connection 
with  the  river  banks.  In  the  suburban  localities  of  Pittsburgh, 
so  much  of  the  available  building  land  is  topographically  divided 
into  narrow  strips  that  it  would  be  cut  to  pieces  in  an  excep- 
tionally uneconomical  manner  by  any  boulevards,  of  the  type 
usual  in  flatter  cities,  where  a  substantially  uniform  width  ot  150, 
or  200,  or  300  feet  is  not  infrequently  carried  through  for 
considerable    distances.     As    a    general    rule,    any    width    to    be 

*English  street  cars  are  narrower  than  American  cars. 
tDr.  Stiibben's  "Der  Stadtebau,"  pp.  69  and  622. 


SPECIAL  TYPES    OF   THOROUGHFARES 


35 


secured  for  esthetic  purposes  in  connection  with  Pittsburgh 
suburban  thoroughfares,  over  and  above  that  needed  for  handling 
the  expectable  future  street  traffic,  must  not  be  in  the  form  of 
a  general  and  con- 
tinuous widening. 
But  occasional 
pieces  here  and 
there  may  be  taken 
for  park  purposes, 
as,  for  instance,  a 
steep  sidehill  adja- 
cent to  the  line  and 
unavailable  or  diffi- 
cult for  building. 
Or  a  narrow  ridge, 
on  which  the  thor- 


Park  treatment  of  hillside  street  junction   at  Stuttgart 


oughfare  runs,  may  have  at  some  point  so  little  available  building 
land  fronting  upon  it  that  the  whole  can  reasonably  be  parked 
for  a  short  distance,  thus  keeping  open  the  distant  views. 

There  are  two  special  forms  of  street,  developed  here  and 
there  in  hilly  cities  all  over  the  world,  of  which  Pittsburgh  needs 
to  take  account  in  its  suburban  development.  In  many  instances, 
and  for  long  distances,  existing  suburban  thoroughfares  that 
must  be  enlarged  and  improved,   and    others  that  must  be   laid 

out,  are  compelled 
to  run  along  the 
lace  of  hills  so 
steep  that  a  street 
of  level  cross  sec- 
tion, even  though 
limited  to  80  feet, 
would  leave  the 
land  on  one  or 
both  sides  so  far 
above  or  below  the 
grade  as  to  destroy 
Its  value  for  building  purposes.  In  such  cases  it  is  often  practi- 
cable to  make  use  of  one-sided  streets  or  two-level  streets.  The 
former  are   designed  to  give  accessible  frontage  on  one  side  only. 


Public  resting  place  and  outlook  spot  on  a  one-sided 
hillside  street  in   Heidelberg 


36         PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

usually  the  up-hill  side.  The  property  on  the  opposite  side  is 
reached  by  the  next  street,  which  is  laid  out  correspondingly 
nearer   in    order  not  to  make  the  lots  too   deep.    The  width  of 

such  a  one-sided 
street  may  be  cur- 
tailed without  redu- 
cing its  thorough- 
fare capacity  be- 
cause it  is  freed 
from  local  business 


Section  showing  one  type  of  hillside  street 

all  along  one  side.  Bluff  Street,  though  not 
a  thoroughfare,  is  an  excellent  Pittsburgh 
example  of  the  one-sided  street,  and  illus- 
trates the  great  attractiveness  which  such 
streets  often  possess.  In  a  two-level  street  a  longitudinal  bank, 
or  retaining  wall,  is  introduced  in  the  middle  so  as  to  adapt 
it  to  the  topography  and  bring  each  half  of  it  nearer  to  the 
natural  surface  where  the  abutting  property  fronts  upon  it. 
Such  a  street  must  normally  be  wider  than  a  single  thoroughfare 
of  the  same  capacity,  the  saving  in  construction  and  in  the 
development  of  abutting  land  more  than  counterbalancing  the 
cost  of  extra  width. 

Widths  for  outlying  thoroughfares  in  a  district  like 
Pittsburgh,  there 'ore,  cannot  be  determined  by  any  general 
rule.  Each  must  be  laid  out  as  a  problem  by  itself,  the  principal 
objects  in  each  problem  being  to  select   a  tolerably  direct  line  on 

reasonable      gradient, 
(^0     r-^  and  so  to  fix  the  side 

r^^'^^{f-i^  lines    of    the    location 

^l^dU^B"  that    it   shall    be    pos- 

sible to  meet  the   im- 


mediate needs  by  con- 
structing an  econom- 
ical suburban  road, 
where     it      does     not 

Section  of  a  two-level   street  at  Zurich,    Switzerland.        already  Cxist,   and  ulti- 


WIDENING   OLD    STREETS  37 

mately  to  convert  it  into  an  ample  urban  thoroughfare  with  the 

minimum  of  cost  and  inconvenience. 

Whatever  radical  changes  may  be  made  to  improve 
Widening  ,  .  ,    1      /  ^■  •  r    , 

Old  Streets  present  or  safeguard  the  future  condition  of  the 

thoroughfare  system  in  regions  that  are  now  rural, 

there  remains  a  huge  problem  within  the  district  where  the  street 

system  has   already  crystallized   into  substantially  its  final  form. 

Here  increased  capacity  can,  for  the  most  part,  be  secured  only 

by  local  improvements  and  widenings  of  existing  thoroughfares. 

Fortunately,  the  building  up  of  the  street  frontage  with  solid 
blocks  of  stores,  apartments,  and  business  structures,  has  at  most 
points  followed  rather  slowly  after  the  earlier  wave  of  detached 
dwelling  houses,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  streets  which  are 
destined  to  be  the  main  arteries  of  the  huge  future  city  are  still 
lined  by  buildings  which  are  set  back  at  various  distances  from  the 
street,  leaving  front  door-yards  between  them  and  the  sidewalk. 
Outside  of  the  down  town  district,  and  a  limited  area  in  East 
Liberty,  it  is  possible,  therefore,  to  provide  for  the  ultimate 
widening  of  these  streets  without  the  destruction  of  many  valu- 
able structures,  provided  the  preliminary  steps  are  promptly  taken. 

As  traffic  increases  and  the  lots  come  to  be  used  for  business 
purposes,  such  a  set-back  becomes  inconvenient  and  undesirable, 
and  one  by  one  the  buildings  are  either  extended  to  the  sidewalk 
by  new  additions,  or  new  buildings  are  erected  on  the  sidewalk 
line.  The  reason  for  this  change  is  not  usually  that  additional 
lot  depth  is  required,  for  often  considerable  yards  are  left  unoc- 
cupied at  the  rear,  but  is  simply  that  on  a  commercial  street  the 
buildings  need  to  be  as  close  to  the  stream  of  traffic  as  possible; 
and  since  the  individual  lot  owner  cannot  move  the  street  as  a 
whole  up  to  his  building,  he  has  to  extend  or  move  his  building 
to  the  street.  His  immediate  purpose  is  thus  served,  and  ulti- 
mately the  whole  row  of  buildings  is  similarly  advanced  in  response 
to  changed  conditions.  But  at  just  about  the  time  when  this 
process  is  fully  completed,  the  volume  of  traffic  flowing  over  the 
street  is  apt  to  have  become  so  great  that  everybody  recognizes 
the  street  to  be  too  narrow  for  the  increased  traffic  it  has  now  to 
carry.  If  the  case  is  a  bad  one,  the  inconvenience  due  to  over- 
crowding the  traveled  way  will  in  time  reach  a  point  where,  in 
spite  of  the   great  cost  of  such  an  operation,  the    buildings    all 


38  PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

along  one  or  both  sides  of  the  street  have  to  be  destroyed  and  a 
new  building  line  established— it  may  be  on  the  very  line  where 
most  of  the  original  buildings  stood  before  increasing  traffic 
began  to  oflfer  inducements  to  move  them  forward  to  the  side- 
walk. Indeed,  it  may  be  said  as  a  general  rule  that  on  any  street 
where  the  buildmgs  are  set  back  from  the  sidewalk  line  the  very 
advancement  of  a  few  buildings  to  the  sidewalk  line  is  a  sign 
which  points  directly  to  the  growth  of  travel  and  indicates  that 
ample  width  will  soon  be  needed  in  that  thoroughfare. 

As  soon  as  these  conditions  appear,  it  is  time  to  act.  As 
already  noted,  it  is  not,  in  most  cases,  the  desire  to  utilize  a 
greater  depth  of  lot  which  leads  to  the  change,  but  the  desire  to 
get  next  to  the  sidewalk  and  to  do  away  with  a  front  yard  which 
has  served  its  purpose  and  is  not  wanted  under  the  new  condi- 
tions. If  the  street  is  one  likely  to  have  a  considerable  amount 
of  through  travel,  it  would  be  reasonable  at  once  to  lay  it  out  wide 
enough  to  handle  such  travel;  and  the  cost  of  the  land  taken  for 
the  widening  would  be  charged,  at  least  in  part,  to  the  abutters,  for 
they  get,  by  the  change,  what  many  of  them  already  want  and  what 
the  rest  will  soon  be  wanting— direct  frontage  on  a  busy  sidewalk. 

A  still  wiser  course  of  procedure  would  be  to  determine  on 
the  widening  of  these  future  main  thoroughfares  before  any 
buildings  have  been  advanced  to  the  sidewalk  line,  and  to  estab- 
lish building  lines  far  enough  apart  to  leave  room  for  all  probable 
future  requirements;  but  to  make  no  physical  widening  of  the 
street  until  the  growth  of  travel— or  the  demands  of  the  abutters— 
call  for  shifting  the  sidewalks  over  to  the  established  building 
line  and  enlarging  the  roadway  to  correspond.  This  is  the  mvari- 
able  practice  in  Washington  and  in  most  well-conducted  European 
cities.  It  is  the  plan  to  some  extent  in  New  York,  where  just 
recently  the  sidewalks  of  Fifth  Avenue  have  been  moved  back 
against  the  building  line  on  the  space  formerly  occupied  by 
stoops,  areaways,  and  dooryards.  Pennsylvania  Avenue  and  Six- 
teenth Street,  in  Washington,  are  both  laid  out  i6o  feet  wide  from 
building  line  to  building  line,  although  Pennsylvania  avenue  is  an 
important  business  artery  and  Sixteenth  Street  is  a  residence 
street  without  heavy  traffic  and  with  no  commercial  business. 
On  the  former,  the  wide  sidewalks  are  in  immediate  contact  with 
the  fronts  of  the  buildings,  as  is  proper  for  a  business  street,  and 


WIDENING    OLD    STREETS  39 

the  roadway,  with  car  tracks  in  the  middle,  is  more  than  wide 
enough  to  carry  all  traffic  that  can  ever  be  concentrated  upon  it. 
Whereas,  on  Sixteenth  Street,  the  traveled  portion  of  the  street, 
including  sidewalks  and  the  space  for  sidewalk  trees,  is  only  80 
feet  wide;  and  the  remainder  is  occupied  by  front  dooryards  40 
feet  deep,  which  the  householders  are  at  liberty  to  fence  and  use 
almost  as  freely  as  if  they  owned  them  in  fee  simple.  At  the 
same  time  all  the  householders  are  protected  against  the  prema- 
ture action  of  any  individual  lot  owner  who  might  see  a  possible 
advantage  in  being  among  the  first  to  bid  for  a  commercial 
business  by  building  a  flat-house  with  stores  under  it  out  upon 
the  sidewalk  line  40  feet  in  advance  of  the  other  houses.  This  is 
the  sort  of  thing  that  is  happening  every  now  and  then  in  Pitts- 
burgh on  streets  where  the  great  majority  of  the  owners  would 
prefer  to  have  the  set-back  continued  for  some  years  longer.  In 
Washington  this  crowding  forward  cannot  be  done;  but  when  a 
reasonably  large  proportion  of  the  owners  on  any  street,  or  any 
block  of  a  street,  are  ready  for  the  change,  the  front  yards  are 
abolished  and  the  sidewalk  is  moved  over  into  contact  with  the 
buildings.  If  a  single  owner  wants  to  put  in  a  store  long  before 
his  neighbors  are  ready  to  give  up  their  front  yards  and  long 
before  the  City  is  ready  to  widen  the  street  to  increase  its  traffic 
capacity,  he  is  of  course  at  liberty  to  do  so;  but  he  must  not  move 
forward  of  the  general  building  line.  What  he  usually  does  is  to 
abolish  his  own  front  dooryard  and  substitute  an  extra  wide  piece 
of  sidewalk  paving  in  place  of  it,  sometimes  using  the  space  for 
outdoor  stands,  or  show  cases,  to  attract  trade.  He  may  even  be 
permitted  to  erect  light  temporary  structures,  such  as  awnings,  on 
the  space  between  his  main  building  and  the  present  sidewalk  line, 
under  which,  in  good  weather,  he  can  do  a  very  good  business. 

There  is,  then,  one  course  of  action  which  overshadows,  in 
permanent  importance  and  in  urgency,  all  other  things  that  Pitts- 
burgh could  do  at  the  present  time  for  the  improvement  of  its 
main  thoroughfare  system.  That  is  to  establish  new  building 
lines,  at  a  suitable  distance  apart,  along  all  of  its  present  and  pro- 
spective main  thoroughfares  which  there  is  any  prospect  of  being 
able  to  widen. 

Pittsburgh,  in  common  with  other  cities  in  Pennsylvania,  has 
a  remarkable  power,  which  is  of  the  utmost  importance  in  connec- 


40         PITTSBURGH-MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

tion  with  the  intelHgent  control  of  its  street  development,  but  of 
which  it  has  not  hitherto  taken  adequate  advantage;  a  power  that 
appears  to  be  denied  to  the  cities  of  every  other  state  in  the 
Union,  although  effectively  used  in  some  other  countries.  Pitts- 
burgh may  legally  lay  out  a  street  in  anticipation  of  a  future  need, 
and  yet  postpone  entering  upon  the  land  for  construction  or  for 
opening  it  to  the  pubhc.  Until  the  city  legally  enters  on  the 
street,  the  owner  of  the  land  has  the  free  use  thereof,  and  he  re- 
ceives payment  only  when  the  opening  takes  place;  but  if,  in  the 
interim,  he  shall  have  erected  any  structure  within  the  limits  of  the 
proposed  stre&t,  he  will  receive  no  compensation  therefor  when 
the  street  is  opened.  Although  similar  laws  have  been  declared 
unconstitutional  in  other  states,  this  provision  has  been  sustained 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  power  has  been  effectively  exercised  in 
numberless  cases  since  the  middle  of  the  last  century. 

Philadelphia  has  applied  the  same  principle  to  street  widen- 
ings,  as  for  example  in  the  case  of  Chestnut  Street.  The  pro- 
cedure is  to  define  a  building  line,  set  back  a  certain  distance 
from  the  street  line,  and  to  permit  no  new  buildings  to  be  erected 
in  front  of  that  line,  but  to  pay  damages  only  when  the  power  to 
prevent  the  erection  of  a  new  building  is  actually  exercised. 

The  Chestnut  Street  widening  was  authorized  by  legislation 
which  provided  merely  that  the  street  should  be  widened  ten  feet, 
without  specifying  the  procedure  or  method  of  awarding  damages.* 

The  procedure  used  in  the  widening,  as  above  described,  had 
apparently  no  other  authority  than  the  general  acts  under  which 
Pittsburgh  has  proceeded  in  laying  out  new  streets. t  This  appli- 
cation of  those  acts  has  been  sustained  by  the  courts.  If  it  is  held 

*"An  Act.— Defining  the  line  of  Chestnut  Street  in  the  City  of  Philadelphia.  Section  i. 
Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Common\yealth  of 
Pennsylvania  in  General  Assembly  met,  and  it  is  thereby  enacted  hy  the  authority  of  the 
same,  That  the  south  line  of  Chestnut  Street,  between  the  rivers  Delaware  and  Schuylkill, 
shall  be  at  the  distance  of  (539)  five  hundred  and  thirty-nine  feet  southward  of  the  south 
side  of  Market  Street  :  Provided,  That  this  act  shall  not  interfere  with  any  buildings  now 
erected  on  the  south  side  of  Chestnut  Street.  Approved  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  April, 
Anno  Domini  1870. 

"An  Ordinance. — To  provide  for  the  widening  of  Chestnut  Street  on  the  City  Plan: 
Section  i.  The  Select  and  Common  Council  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia  do  ordain  that  the 
Department  of  Surveys  be  and  is  hereby  authorized  to  revise  the  City  plan  so  as  to  make 
Chestnut  Street  from  the  Delaware  River  to  the  Schuylkill  River  of  the  width  of  sixty  (60) 
feet,  widening  equally  on  both  sides  from  the  old  center  line.  Section  2.  After  confirmation  and 
establishment  of  said  lines  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  owner  or  builder  to  erect  any  new 
building  or  to  rebuild  or  alter  the  front  of  any  building  now  erected,  without  making  it 
recede  so  as  to  conform  to  the  lines  established  for  a  width  of  sixty  (60)  feet.  Approved  the 
thirty-first  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1884.  Samuel  G.  King,  Mayor  of  Philadelphia." 

tAct  of  December  20,  1871,  Pamphlet  Laws  of  187.1,  p    1390;  and  Act  of  May  16,  1891. 


WIDENING    OLD    STREETS  41 

that  a  specific  extension  of  the  principle  of  the  Act  of  1871  to  the 
widening  of  Chestnut  Street  was  impHed  in  the  ordinance  of  1874, 
under  authority  of  the  Act  of  April,  1870,  and  that  it  is  not  gen- 
erally applicable  to  widenings,  a  general  act  so  intending  ought 
to  be  secured  from  the  legislature. 

In  the  Chestnut  Street  case  existing  buildings  covered  most 
of  the  space  between  the  building  line  and  the  street  line,  and 
the  exercise  of  the  power,  with  the  consequent  accruement  of 
damages,  occurred  in  each  case  only  when  the  original  building 
was  torn  down  by  the  owner  and  he  was  required  to  set  the  new 
building  back  to  the  new  building  line. 

The  same  principle  is  equally  applicable  to  those  cases  where 
the  existing  buildings  are  mostly  or  wholly  back  of  the  new  build- 
ing line;  the  damages  becoming  due  in  such  a  case  only  when 
a  building  permit  for  the  erection  of  a  new  structure  encroaching 
on  the  designated  open  space  is  actually  withheld. 

The  advantages  of  such  a  method  of  procedure,  in  the  case  of 
those  highways  where  all,  or  nearly  all,  of  the  buildings  are  now 
set  back  from  the  street  and  where  a  widening  will  ultimately  be 
needed,  are  obvious  and  very  great.  In  a  large  percentage  of 
cases,  where  the  street  is  still  mainly  residential,  the  majority  of 
the  abutters  would  welcome  the  establishment  of  a  building  line 
for  their  own  protection  from  inconsiderate  neighbors;  just  as  the 
majority  of  people  will  pay  higher  prices  for  lots  in  a  neighbor- 
hood that  is  protected  by  properly  drawn  restrictions  for  set- 
backs, etc.,  imposed  by  a  land  company.  In  a  great  many  such 
cases  abutters  could  be  induced  to  waive  any  claims  for  damages 
on  condition  that  the  building  line  should  be  applied  to  the 
whole  street.  Furthermore,  the  actual  net  damages  to  be  paid 
would  be  distributed  over  a  long  period,  and  a  considerable 
proportion  of  them,  in  many  cases,  could  properly  be  assessed 
on  adjacent  benefited  property  owners. 

When  the  actual  physical  widening  of  the  street  takes  place, 
through  absorbing  the  restricted  zones  on  each  side  of  it,  the 
damages  for  land  taking  will  be  comparatively  small,  because  at 
that  time  most  of  the  abutters  will  want  nothing  so  much  as  that 
very  widening,  if  only  to  bring  the  sidewalks  in  contact  with  the 
fronts  of  their  buildings.  But  regardless  of  its  clear  financial 
advantages  to  the  City,  in  reducing  its  total  payments  for  street 


42  PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

widening  and  especially  in  distributing  the  burden  of  that  cost 
over  a  long  period  without  running  up  a  large  bonded  indebt- 
edness and  interest  charges,  the  fundamental  argument  for  this 
method  of  procedure  is  that  it  avoids  the  absolute  dead  loss  to  / 
the  whole  community  resulting  from  the  destruction  of  valuable  ^ 
buildings.  It  is  not  practicable  to  avoid  this  in  any  other  way  and 
still  accomplish  the  result  of  widened  thoroughfares.  Theoreti- 
cally, it  could  be  done  by  a  direct  widening  of  all  the  highways 
in  the  ordinary  manner,  if  it  were  to  be  done  promptly;  but  there 
are  comparatively  few  cases  in  which  there  would  be  enough 
immediate  advantage  in  the  increased  width  to  make  the  prop- 
osition attractive;  and  it  is  obvious  that  any  such  wholesale 
immediate  action  would  involve  a  sudden  and  enormous  finan- 
cial burden  which  it  is  utterly  impracticable  for  the  City  to 
assume. 

If,  after  the  gradual  piecemeal  process  of  widening  at  moder- 
ate and  distributed  expense  has  been  begun,  the  City  thinks  it 
would  prefer  to  have  the  process  over  and  done  with  promptly, 
it  is  just  as  able  to  complete  the  widening  immediately,  by  whole- 
sale condemnation,  as  if  the  gradual  process  had  never  been 
entered  upon.  If  the  City  begins  on  the  gradual  process,  it  can 
always  change  to  the  other  when  it  feels  rich  enough,  or  when  the 
buildings  on  the  old  lines  have  become  few  enough;  and  in  the 
meantime  the  erection  of  new  and  costly  buildings,  obstructive  to 
the  proposed  widening,  has  been  prevented  at  comparatively 
slight  expense.  If  the  City  does  nothing,  pending  such  time  as  it 
can  afford  to  make  the  widening  at  a  single  operation,  the  cost  of 
the  operation  is  liable  to  mount  at  least  as  fast  as  the  City's 
ability  to  pay  for  it. 

While  the  method  proposed  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  handling 
the  problem  of  a  thoroughfare  along  which  the  majority  of  the 
frontage  is  not  yet  occupied  by  buildings  standing  on  the  street 
line,  it  may  be  objected  that  it  is  not  suitable  for  widening  one 
that  is  built  up,  like  Forbes  Street.  It  is  true  that  the  patchwork 
appet:rance  of  such  a  street  during  the  process  of  gradual  recon- 
struction is  somewhat  unsightly, — with  here  and  there  a  wide 
place  where  new  buildings  have  gone  up,  and  between  them  nar- 
row parts,  thus  exposing  the  blank  side  walls  of  old  buildings 
projecting  beyond  the  new  ones.    Yet  in  cities  where  the  sense  of 


UNIFIED   PROCEDURE  43 

civic  beauty  is  far  more  acute  than  it  generally  is  in  America, 
this  temporarily  ragged  condition  is  accepted  as  a  small  price  to 
pay  for  the  economical  and  certain  accomplishment  of  a  great 
permanent    improvement. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  flow  of  traffic  moves  regard- 
Unified  Procedure  1^33  ^f  ^^e  artificial  boundaries  of  the  city  and  the 
For  City,  County  ,.  ,  ,  ^      v         -r  ai   ■ 

andBorouffh  surroundmg    boroughs,    and    that    if    an  efficient 

system  of  thoroughfares  is  to  be  envolved  for  the 
Pittsburgh  Industrial  District  it  will  be  necessary  to  disregard 
those  boundaries  in  planning  it.  This  has  been  done  in  the 
preliminary  studies  which  have  resulted  in  this  report,  and  the 
necessity  for  it  must  control  the  form  of  any  permanent  organiza- 
tion for  preparing  final  plans  and  executing  them.  If  these  duties 
are  to  be  entrusted  to  officers  of  the  City,  and  the  city  boundaries 
remain  unchanged,  those  officers  must  have  authority  from  the 
legislature  to  deal  with  territory  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the 
city,  as  is  the  case  in  a  limited  way  in  Wisconsin  cities.* 

The  simplest  and  most  logical  procedure,  if  the  boundaries  of 
the  city  and  of  the  boroughs  are  to  remain  substantially  un- 
changed, would  be  to  establish  a  common  agency  for  dealing  with 
the  general  problems  of  city  planning  for  all  of  the  municipalities 
and  the  related  parts  of  the  country  outside  of  them.  The  Con- 
stitution of  Pennsylvania  apparently  prevents  the  formation  of  a 
special  metropoHtan  board  for  the  Pittsburgh  Industrial  District, 
but  general  authority  might  be  obtained  under  which  the  County 
could  establish  such  a  board.  If  the  difficulty  should  be  met 
simply  by  extending  the  boundaries  of  the  city,  it  is  important 
that  the  new  boundaries  should  include  not  merely  those  areas 
which  are  now  seen  to  have  close  physical  relations  with  the  city, 
but  a  great  extent  of  territory  within  which  the  beginnings  of 
urban  or  suburban  growth  have  started,  or  are  likely  to  start, 
during  the  next  generation. 

Whether  the  duty  of  planning  and  providing  for  the  main 
transportation  lines  is  made  a  city  affair  or  a  county  affair,  those 
who  are  charged  with  it  should  be  free  to  go  as  far  in  any  given 
direction  as  the  demands  of  the  traffic  lead  them.  They  should 
neither  be  limited  by  arbitrary  boundaries  in  those  directions 
where  scattering  but  connected  urban  development  may  reach  out 

*PubIic  Statutes,  Sec.  2261  m. 


44         PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

furthest  from  the  center,  nor  compelled  to  extend  their  operations 
to  an  arbitrary  boundary  in  those  directions  where  such  develop- 
ment falls  short. 


SPECIFIC    RECOMMENDATIONS 

MAIN   ARTERIES 

As  noted  earlier  in  this  report,  one  of  the  two  main  eastward 

thoroughfare  routes,  from  the  Point  District,  must  lie  along  the 

flat  land  between  the  Allegheny  River  and  the  bluff  southeast  of 

the  Pennsylvania  tracks.    Through  this  bottle-neck 

enn     venue        must  pass  the   trunk  line  (or  lines)    of  one  of  the 
Artery  . 

largest  thoroughfare  systems  leading  from  the  down 

town  district  of  Pittsburgh.  At  the  foot  of  the  Lawrenceville  hill 
the  system  branches  into  two  main  lines  of  extension.  On  the  one 
hand  are  Penn  and  Liberty  Avenues,  extending,  by  different 
routes,  through  the  Garfield,  Bloomfield,  Friendship  and  Shadyside 
Districts  to  East  Liberty ;  and  from  there  connecting  directly  to 
Squirrel  Hill,  Highland  Park,  Homewood,  Brushton,  Wilkins- 
burg  and  all  points  further  east.  On  the  other  hand  is  Butler 
Street,  following  the  low  land  along  the  river  through  Lawrence- 
ville to  Morningside  and  Highland  Park.  Via  the  Forty-third 
Street  bridge,  this  line  reaches  Millvale  and  the  country  north 
thereof;  via  the  Sharpsburg  and  Aspinwall  bridges  it  reaches  Etna, 
Sharpsburg,  Aspinwall,  and  Shaler  and  O'Hara  townships,  and 
connects  directly  with  the  Freeport  Road,  the  only  thoroughfare 
leading  up  the  Allegheny  River.  The  trunk  line  of  this  system  is 
composed  of  two  narrow  streets,  Penn  Avenue  and  Liberty  Avenue, 
the  one  60  and  the  other  50  feet  in  width.  Even  now  this  accom- 
modation is  inadequate,  and,  considering  the  extent  of  territory 
served  and  the  increase  of  through  traffic  to  be  expected  as  the 
city  grows  and  the  outlying  lands  develop,  a  much  greater  capacity 
for  general  trafiic  through  this  throat  will  very  soon  be  needed. 

There  are  four  different  ways  in  which  this  greater  capacity 
might  be  realized. 

In  the  first  place,  a  new  street  might  be  cut  through  north  of 
Penn  Avenue.  Smallman  Street,  from  Twenty-first  to  Thirty-sixth 
Street,  already  forms  a  good  sized  piece  of  such  a  thoroughfare. 
Pike    Street  would  be  its  normal  extension  in  town  to  Eleventh 


PENN    AVENUE    ARTERY  45 

Street,  but,  like  Try  Street  near  Second  Avenue,  it  has  been  sur- 
rendered to  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  for  a  connecting  line  and 
spur  tracks.  Furthermore,  it  is  very  narrow  (not  over  40  feet)  and 
is  difficult  to  widen  on  account  of  the  many  industrial  plants 
abutting  thereon.  The  connections  from  such  a  thoroughfare 
with  Penn  Avenue,  Liberty  Avenue  and  Butler  Street  at  one  end, 
and  with  the  down  town  thoroughfares  at  the  other,  are  quite 
indirect;  and  they  could  be  improved  only  at  great  expense. 

The  only  other  place  for  a  new  thoroughfare  is  along  Spring 
Alley,  between  Penn  and  Liberty  Avenues.  As  this  whole  block  is 
only  220  feet  wide,  including  the  alley.  It  Is  obvious  that  a  broad 
avenue  through  the  middle  of  it  would  leave  the  abutting  property 
in  very  uneconomical  shape. 

As  a  modification  of  this  plan,  the  widening  of  Spring  Alley 
entirely  on  the  south  side  was  considered.  As  this  would  leave 
lots  40  feet  or  less  in  depth  between  the  new  street  and  Liberty 
Avenue,  it  would  mean  the  practical  destruction  of  the  half-block 
from  Spring  Alley  to  Liberty  Avenue.  The  remaining  strip  could 
be  taken  as  a  central  parking  space  in  a  wide  boulevard  thorough- 
fare, extending  from  Spring  Alley  to  the  railroad ;  or  Liberty 
Avenue  could  be  abandoned,  and  the  space,  left  between  the  new 
street  and  the  railroad,  could  be  used  for  warehouses  or  for 
business  wanting  direct  railroad  connections;  or  it  might  be  sold 
In  whole  or  in  part  to  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  for  additional 
track  space.  It  is  obvious  that  each  of  these  plans  cuts  up  the 
property  undesirably :  the  first  is  not  only  costly  but  is  extrava- 
gantly wasteful  of  land  in  a  region  where  available  land  is  strictly 
limited  and  should  therefore  be  put  to  Its  most  efficient  use :  and 
the  other  plans  both  involve  an  entire  redistribution  of  the  land 
south  of  the  new  street.  They  could  hardly  be  executed  without 
powers  of  "excess  condemnation"  for  which  constitutional  author- 
ity is  lacking. 

A  third  plan  would  be  to  widen  Liberty  Avenue  on  the 
north  side.  There  is  no  special  difficulty  In  the  way  of  this 
scheme,  and  It  could  certainly  be  more  easily  carried  out,  and  at 
less  cost,  than  any  of  the  Spring  Alley  plans.  Merely  as  a  traffic 
way  between  two  points.  Liberty  Avenue  widened  would  be  per- 
fectly satisfactory,  but  several  Incidental  considerations  must  be 
borne    In   mind.    First,    the    lots  on  the  north  side  of  the  street 


46         PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

would  be  cut  at  least  to  70  and  probably  to  50  feet,  neither  of 
which  is  a  desirable  depth  for  lots  on  a  main  thoroughfare ;  and 
second,  the  street  would  have  business  frontage  on  one  side  only. 
The  latter  is  an  uneconomic  arrangement  from  the  point  of  view 
both  of  the  real  estate  owner  and  of  the  City,  and  the  street  would 
be  much  less  agreeable  than  if  it  were  separated  from  the  railroad. 

The  fourth  plan  would  be  to  widen  Penn  Avenue.  This  street 
is  now  60  feet  in  width,  and  most  of  the  lots  on  each  side  are  100 
feet  deep,  except  for  several  blocks  on  the  north  side  where  they 
are  about  120  feet.  The  street  is  built  up  solidly  on  both  sides, 
but  scarcely  any  of  the  buildings  are  new  or  costly.  The  property 
values  are  almost  uniformly  a  little  higher  than  on  Liberty  Avenue. 
If  Penn  Avenue  were  widened  10  feet  on  each  side,  making  an 
80-foot  thoroughfare,  the  abutting  lots  would  still  be  90  feet 
or  over  in  depth;  and  if  the  street  were  made  100  feet  wide,  the 
lots  would  still  be  80  feet  deep.  Though  it  might  cost  somewhat 
more  to  widen  Penn  Avenue  than  Liberty  Avenue,  it  is  evident 
that  the  abutting  property  would  be  left  in  far  better  shape,  and 
the  benefit  to  be  had  from  increased  frontage  value  would  be 
much  greater. 

After  due  consideration  of  each  of  the  above  plans,  bearing 
in  mind  the  cost,  the  difficulty  of  carrying  it  out,  and  the  value  of 
the  result,  both  as  an  important  main  thoroughfare  artery  and 
as  a  local  improvement,  it  is  recommended  that  Penn  Avenue  be 
widened  to  100  feet.  If  the  widening  is  to  be  accomplished  by 
the  gradual  process,*  that  is  by  merely  establishing  the  new  build- 
ing lines  at  the  present  time,  and  by  paying  damages  only  when 
new  buildings  are  set  back  to  this  line,  the  widening  should 
probably  be  made  on  both  sides  :  for  in  this  way  the  minimum 
setback  will  be  required  for  individual  new  developments  and  the 
lots  will  be  left  of  a  good  depth  on  both  sides  of  the  street.  But 
if  the  widening  is  all  to  be  made  at  once,  it  will  be  less  costly  to 
make  it  entirely  on  the  south  side.  In  either  case,  the  lots  remain- 
ing will  be  none  too  deep,  and  it  is  suggested  that  ultimately 
Spring  Alley  may  be  abandoned  and  the  opportunity  furnished 
for  deep  lots  for  warehouses  and  similar  purposes,  fronting  on  a 
large  thoroughfare  and  having  direct  railroad  connections  over 
Liberty  Avenue  in  the  rear. 

^Methods  of  widening  are  fully  discussed  on  pages  37  to  42. 


FORBES  STREET  ARTERY 


47 


The  other  eastward  thoroughfare  system  lies  south 
Artery  °^    ^^^    ^^^^    District.     From    Soho  eastward  there 

are  two  main  branches  to  the  system:  on  the  one 
hand  are  Forbes  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  leading  through  Oak- 
land to  Bellefield,  Shadyside,  East  Liberty,  Squirrel  Hill,  and 
all  points  east ;  on  the  other  hand  is  a  possible  and  much-needed 
thoroughfare  reaching  Greenfield,  Hazelwood,  Glenwood,  and 
Hays,  and  from  there,  by  branches  and  extensions,  connecting 
to  Homestead,  Duquesne,  McKeesport,  and  points  up  the 
Monongahela  and  Youghiogheny  Rivers,  as  well  as  to  the  country 
south  in  Baldwin,  Mifflin,  Snowden,  and  Jefferson  townships. 

At  present  the  trunk-line  of  this  system  (from  the  Point 
District  past  Soho  hill)  is  composed  of  three  narrow  streets. 
Second  Avenue,  Forbes  Street,  and  Fifth  Avenue,  which  all  together 
are  no  more  than  adequate  to  accommodate  the  present  surface 
travel.  Future  developments  in  the  East  End,  up  the  Monon- 
gahela, and  in  the  country  south  of  Homestead,  and  improved 
thoroughfare  connections  with  the  two  latter  regions,  will 
undoubtedly  increase  the  through  traffic  on  these  streets  to  such 
an  extent  that  their  capacity  will  soon  be  taxed  beyond  its  limit. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  more  accommodations  will  be  needed 
in  the  near  future. 

At  first  thought  it  was  hoped  that  Second  Avenue  might  be 
improved  to  accommodate  a  reasonable  increase  in  east  and  west 
traffic ;  but  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  on  one  side,  and 
several  large  industrial  plants  on  the  other,  present  serious 
obstacles  to  widening  it.  A 
plan  to  exchange  locations  with 
the  railroad  was  considered, 
but  it  did  not  appear  to  offer 
sufficient  advantage  to  the 
railroad  to  tempt  them  to 
cooperate  in  the  matter. 

Incidentally,  Second  Ave- 
nue can  and  should  be  widened 
to  80  feet,  from  Ross  Street  to  the  Tenth  Street  bridge,  thus 
making  a  good  connection  between  the  Point  District  and  the 
South  Side. 

It  remained  then  to  secure  the  desired  street  capacity,  in  some 


»• 

<, 

1 

pH] 

Mm 

air --ITS- 

Section  of  Second  Avenue  between  Try 
Street  and  Tenth  Street  Bridge 


48  PITTSBURGH— MAIN   THOROUGHFARES 

way,  through  the  valley  now  occupied  by  Forbes  Street  and  Fifth 
Avenue.  To  avoid  the  higher  land  values  on  these  streets, 
various  schemes  were  tried  to  get  a  third  thoroughfare  in  this 
valley,  first  on  the  south  and  then  on  the  north  side,  but  without 
success.  The  indirectness  of  line  and  the  seriousness  of  grade 
difficulties,  coupled  with  cost  of  cutting  new  connections  at 
either  end,  more  than  outweighed  the  advantages  offered  by  the 
cheaper  land. 

One  proposition,  however,  is  worthy  of  special  remark.  That 
was  to  cut  a  new  street  from  Fifth  Avenue,  near  Sixth  Avenue, 
to  the  end  of  Colwell  Street,  widen  the  latter,  carry  it  over  the 
Moultrie  Street  valley  on  a  high  viaduct,  skirt  around  Soho 
hill,  partly  above  and  partly  below  Beelen  Street,  and  either  join 
Fifth  Avenue  at  Robinson  Street,  or,  going  over  this  street, 
follow  along  the  hillside  and  meet  the  southerly  end  of  Bayard 
Street.  The  cost  of  constructing  this  line,  the  complication  of 
grades  with  cross-streets  (owing  to  the  width  of  the  new  street), 
and  the  difficulty  of  getting  good  connections  with  any  thorough- 
fares leading  up  the  Monongahela,  .practically  put  it  out  of  the 
question  as  a  solution  of  the  main  problem  in  hand.  But  it  oflfers 
many  advantages  as  a  specialized  thoroughfare  for  fast-moving 
automobiles  for  the  East  End.  It  is  well  up  on  the  hill,  furnish- 
ing, at  times,  fine  outlooks  over  the  river;  the  gradient  need 
nowhere  be  over  4  per  cent,  and  the  line  could  be  easily  laid  out 
so  as  to  have  very  few  grade  crossings  with  other  important 
streets.  It  is  urged  that  this  route  be  borne  in  mind  when  the 
demand  is  felt  for  another  "Grant  Boulevard,"  south  of  the  Hill. 

It  remained,  then,  to  consider  adequate  widenings  of  Fifth 
Avenue  or  Forbes  Street.  The  former  is  now  60  feet  wide 
throughout;  it  is  by  far  the  more  important  thoroughfare  at 
present,  land  values  are  much  higher  than  on  Forbes  Street,  and 
new  and  somewhat  costly  buildings  are  already  crowding  out  the 
cheap  houses  of  an  older  generation.  Forbes  Street  is  also  60  feet 
in  width,  except  near  its  westerly  end  where  it  is  only  50  feet,  but 
the  buildings,  on  the  whole,  are  much  less  valuable  than  those 
on  Fifth  Avenue.  Lot  depths  are  practically  the  same,  and  so 
are  the  street  gradients.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  widen- 
ing of  Forbes  Street  should  be  a  far  less  costly  undertaking 
than  the  widening  of  Fifth  Avenue. 


SOUTH    HILLS   ARTERY  49 

A  thorough  study  of  the  possible  eastward  extensions  of 
Forbes  Street  has  developed  no  obstacles  to  using  it  as  the  prin- 
cipal thoroughfare.  By  referring  to  "Outlying  Thoroughfare 
Improvements"  below  (Sections  11,  14,  15,  16,  17  and  19),  it 
will  be  seen  that  a  cross  connection  can  easily  be  secured  at  Brady 
Street  to  Fifth  Avenue — the  latter  being  the  easier  street  to  widen 
beyond  this  point,  as  well  as  oflfering  somewhat  better  gradients. 
It  will  also  be  seen  that  the  thoroughfare  extension  to  Greenfield, 
Hazelwood,  Glenwood,  and  eastward,  can  branch  from  Forbes 
Street  (just  east  of  Brady)  more  easily  and  cheaply  than  it  could 
from  Fifth  Avenue.  Forbes  Street,  moreover,  enters  the  down 
town  district  at  a  slightly  more  central,  and,  considering  the  pro- 
posed improvements  in  the  down  town  district,  a  more  advanta- 
geous point. 

It   is    recommended,    therefore,    that  Forbes  Street  be   made 

the  main  artery  of  this  eastbound  thoroughfare  system,  and  that  it 

be  widened  to    100  feet.     As   in   the  case  of   Penn   Avenue,   the 

widening  should  be  made  on  both  sides  if  done  by  the  gradual 

process;  but  if  done  all  at  one  time,  it  should  be  made  entirely 

on  the   south  side. 

Between    the   Point  District   and   the   South    Hills 

South  Hills  there  is  now  urgent   need  for    a  thoroughfare  con- 

Artery  .  . 

nection    of  adequate    capacity    and    on    reasonable 

gradients.  At  present  the  only  access  for  surface  traffic — except 
electric  cars — is  via  the  Brownsville  Road,  or  South  Eighteenth 
Street,  or  the  inclines.  The  two  roads  are  steep,  from  7  to  8  per 
cent,  and  the  inclines  are  expensive  and  of  very  limited  capacity. 
The  South  Hills  country  is  sparsely  developed  as  yet,  but,  being 
comparatively  free  from  smoke  and  very  near  to  the  business  dis- 
trict, it  offers  unusually  desirable  opportunities  for  homes,  and  it 
must  soon  be  thickly  settled.  The  need  for  a  good  thoroughfare 
to  this  region  will  then  be  of  far  greater  importance  even  than  now. 

Only  two  reasonable  ways  of  securing  such  a  thoroughfare 
appear.  One  is  by  a  new  slanting  road  up  the  hillside  south  of  the 
river,  much  longer,  and  so  on  an  easier  gradient,  than  Browns- 
ville Road;  the  other  is  by  some  high-level  bridge  and  tunnel 
scheme,  such  as  that  proposed  by  residents  of  the  South  Hills. 

The  opportunities  for  a  hillside  road  have  been  studied  with 
some  care,  but  the  excessive  length  required  to  get  a  reasonable 


50 


PITTSBURGH—MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 


gradient,  and  the  difficulties  and  high  cost  of  constructing  a  wide 
thoroughfare  on  the  steep  hillside,  have  proved  to  be  serious 
drawbacks  to  all  possible  plans  for  such  a  street. 

In  any  thoroughfare  scheme 
to  the  South  Hills,  it  is  rea- 
sonably clear  that  the  end  to 
be  attained  is  the  most  direct 
access  possible  on  easy  gradi- 
ents to  the  higher  levels  oi  tho. 
South  Hills  country.  For  it  is 
on  the  upper  levels,  the  hill- 
tops and  the  upper  slopes, 
that  most  of  the  present  de- 
velopment has  taken  place ; 
and  there  can  be  little  doubt 

Entrance  to  a  thoroughfare  tunnel,  Stuttgart  ^\^^^    J^    ^\^q    future,    even    when 

building  space  is  at  a  much  higher  premium  than  it  is  now,  the 
overwhelming  majority  of  the  population  will  be  found  on  the 
hills  rather  than  in  the  narrow  valleys. 

There  are  certain  general  tendencies  which  are  observable, 
both  in  America  and  in  Europe,  in  cities  which  have  a  large  area 
of  hill-top  land  separated  by  deep  valleys.  The  hills  are  generally 
preferred  for  residential  purposes,  and  the  earliest  roads  or  trails 
often  follow  the  ridges,  plunging  down  and  climbing  up  again 
steeply  to  get  from  one  ridge  to  another.  The  main  roads  in  the 
second  stage  of  development  are  apt  to  seek  the  valleys  for  the 
sake  of  good  gra- 
dients, with  a  cor- 
responding devel- 
opment of  the  most 
active  urban  growth 
in  the  valleys  and 
on  the  lower  slopes; 
the  hilltop  devel- 
opment being  re- 
tarded by  lack  of 
transportation  fa- 
cilities.    Neverthe-  

less    the    continued  Thoroughfare  tunnel  at  Budapest 


SOUTH    HILLS    ARTERY 


attractiveness  of  the  uplands  slowly  builds  them  up,  and  as  the 
wealth  of  the  community  grows  there  is  an  inevitable  tendency  to 
reduce  the  obstacles  to  ready  connection  between  one  hill  dis- 
trict and  another 
by  raising  the  lev- 
els of  the  bridges 
which  cross  the  in- 
tervening valleys. 
Bolder  and  bolder 
viaducts  are  built, 
until  finally  there  is 
a  complete  and 
more  or  less  inde- 
pendent highway 
system  on  the  up- 
per levels,  and  the 


jkinir  \  iaJuLi   m 


I'aiuliLi    Hollow  bridge — a  goot 
Pittsburgh 

major  part  of  the  residential  district  comes  to  be  there  too. 
Obviously,  therefore,  every  opportunity  should  be  utilized  to 
gain  grade,  in  the  approach  to  the  South  Hills  District,  by  start- 
ing at  a  high  elevation  and  wasting  no  distance  in  level  stretches, 
if  the  most  efficient  thoroughfare  artery  to  this  district  is  to  be 
secured. 

The  bridge  and  tunnel  plan,  proposed  by  residents  of  the 
South  Hills,  is  briefly  as  follows:  to  start  from  Forbes  Street,  at 
Sixth  Avenue,  and  rise  steadily  to  the  bluff  north  of  Second  Avenue; 
from  here  to  rise  on  a  bridge  over  the  river,  at  a  uniform  gradient, 

to  the  opposite 
hill ;  to  pierce  the 
hill  by  a  tunnel,  at 
the  same  gradient, 
and  reach  the  level 
of  the  present  high- 
ways at  the  junc- 
tion of  Washing- 
ton Avenue  and 
Haberman  Street. 
It  is  proposed  also 

.      .      ,        ,        „  to     have     a     lower 

A  viaduct  in  Lausanne,  snowing  how  the  valleys  are  i      i     •  i 

spanned  by  the  main  traffic  ways  tleck  On  the  bridge, 


52         PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

which  would  connect  East  Carson  Street  with  Second  Avenue  and 
an  extension  of  Sixth  Avenue. 

This  plan  has  the  obvious  advantage  of  starting  some  40  feet 
higher  than  any  of  the  present  bridge  approaches  in  the  down 
town  district,  and  at  a  point  from  500  to  1000  feet  north  of  any 
other  feasible  point  of  departure.  Considerable  gain  is  thus  made 
at  the  very  start.  A  uniform,  uninterrupted  gradient  is  proposed, 
from  Forbes  Street  to  Washington  Avenue,  in  order  to  climb  the 
maximum  amount  possible  with  a  given  distance  and  gradient. 
Information  furnished  us  through  the  office  of  Edwin  K.  Morse 
shows  that  the  horizontal  distance  from  Forbes  Street  to  Wash- 
ington Avenue  is  6800  feet  and  the  difference  in  elevation  between 
the  two  points  is  260  feet.  It  follows  that  a  uniform  gradient, 
from  one  end  to  the  other  would  be  3.82  per  cent;  this  could  be 
reduced  to  3.74  per  cent  by  raising  the  grade  of  Forbes  Street 
about  6  feet,  a  change  which  is  to  be  desired  in  connection  with 
the  down  town  thoroughfare  improvements  and  the  Civic  Center. 
At  first  sight  this  gradient  seems  good  for  Pittsburgh;  but  bearing 
in  mind  the  distance — over  a  mile  and  a  quarter — for  which  this 
gradient  is  maintained  without  a  break,  considerable  hesitancy  is 
felt  about  recommending  it  for  the  main  artery  of  a  large 
thoroughfare  system.  A  gradient  of  3.5  per  cent  should  probably 
be  considered  a  maximum  for  such  a  long  climb  on  a  main 
thoroughfare,  and  3  per  cent  would  be  far  better.  The  former 
gradient  could  be  secured  by  dropping  the  southern  end  of  the 
tunnel  about  16  feet,  the  latter  by  dropping  it  about  50  feet.  In 
either  case,  the  southern  end  of  the  tunnel,  or  its  approach,  would 
be  bent  westward  and  extended  a  little  down  the  valley,  north  of 
Washington  Avenue,  toward  the  mouth  of  the  street  car  tunnel. 
The  exact  amount  of  reduction  to  be  desired  in  the  tunnel  gra- 
dient must  be  finally  determined  in  conjunction  with  a  careful 
study  of  its  southerly  extensions  based  on  complete  and  accurate 
surveys  of  the  possible  routes.  There  is  no  advantage  in  length- 
ening one  portion  of  a  thoroughfare  to  get  a  3  per  cent  gradient 
if  nothing  better  than  3.5  or  4  per  cent  can  be  secured  on  the  rest 
of  the  route.  The  surveys  made  for  the  County  Commissioners, 
under  the  direction  of  E.  M.  Bigelow,  and  courteously  shown  to 
representatives  of  the  Civic  Commission,  unfortunately  fail  to 
furnish  the    needful  data,    as  they  do  not  extend  to  the  upland 


•—    —  V 


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AREA  RtACMEO  BY  HAUL  Or 
2^2  MILES  FROM  ^H 

CITY  MALL  HH 

AREA  REACHED  BY  HAUL  OF 
Z!';- 3  MILES  FROM  p^!g 
CITY  HALL  ^^ 

AREA  REACHED  BY  MAUL  OF 
3-3V2  MILES  FROM  1=1 
CITY  MALL  ^^ 

AREA  REACHED  BY  HAUL  OF 
3Vz-4  MILES  FROM 
CITY  HALL 

SOUTHERN  MOUTH 
OF  TUNNEL 


AREAS  REACHED  BY  LOW  LEVEL  TUNNEL  ROUTE 

•  CITY  HALL 


AREAS  REACHED  BY  HIGH  LEVEL  TUNNEL  ROUTE 


The  above  diagrams  show  the  areas  that  can  be  reached  via  the  low-level  and  high- 
level  tunnel  routes  to  the  South  Hills,  on  a  maximum  gradient  of  3  '2  per  cent,  by  hauls  of 
various  lengths  from  City  Hall.    The  areas  are  given  in  the  following  table  : 


Length  of  haul 
from  City  Hall 

Total  area  leached 

Amount  of  land  sloping 
over  25  per  cent 

Remaining  land  available 
for  use 

Low-level 
route 

High-level 
route 

Low-level 
route 

High-level 
route 

Low-level 
route 

High-level 
route 

"zYz  miles    .    .    . 

3  miles    .... 
3/^  miles    .    .    . 

4  miles    .... 

156  acres 

672      " 
2763      " 
6329      " 

1 09 1  acres 
2710      " 

4877      " 
7408      " 

86  acres 
293      " 
1053      " 
1935      " 

373  acres 
848      " 
1617      " 
2449      ' ' 

70  acres 

379      " 
1710      " 

4394     " 

718  acres 
1862      " 
3260     " 
4959      " 

(54) 


SOUTH    HILLS    ARTERY  55 

districts    which     are     the    ultimate    objective    of    the     proposed 
route. 

But  even  without  precise  data,  it  is  clear  that  the  best  perma- 
nent means  of  reaching  those  upland  districts,  whether  on  one 
side  of  Sawmill  Run  or  on  the  other,  is  not  by  a  tunnel  debouch- 
ing in  the  bottom  of  the  valley — say  at  the  Bell  Tavern.  This 
follows  from  the  fact  that  the  tunnel  can  reach  a  much  higher 
level  at  a  good  gradient  and  with  a  shorter  distance.  And  from 
this  higher  outlet  point  a  viaduct  high  in  the  air  above  the 
Bell  Tavern  would  give  direct  access  to  the  uplands  of  Beech- 
view  and  Mt.  Lebanon  and  southward,  while  streets  of  easy 
gradient  would  reach  the  uplands  east  of  Sawmill  Run.  The  high 
level  tunnel,  furthermore,  will  reach  all  the  areas  served  by  the 
low  level,  or  Bell  Tavern,  route,  and  in  addition  can  reach  the 
other  and  more  important  lands  on  the  hills  which  cannot  be 
reached  via  the  Bell  Tavern  route  within  a  reasonable  distance. 

The  thoroughfare  extensions  from  the  southern  end  of  the 
tunnel  are  briefly  discussed  under  "Outlying  Thoroughfare 
Improvements"  below.  At  its  northern  end  the  new  bridge 
would  fit  admirably  into  the  proposed  thoroughfare  system  of  the 
Down  Town  District,  main  wide  streets  extending  directly  from  the 
end  of  the  bridge  approach  to  the  north,  south,  east,  and  west. 

Owing  to  the  importance  of  the  South  Side  as  a  point  for  the 
delivery  of  freight,  a  reasonably  direct  and  easy  approach  from 
there  to  the  new  tunnel  seems  desirable.  Freight  to  be  teamed  to 
the  South  Hills  District  seems  likely  to  originate  either  near  the 
Smithfield  Street  bridge,  or  east  of  South  Seventeenth  Street. 
From  the  former  point,  it  is  almost  out  of  the  question  to  get 
an  approach  of  easy  gradient  to  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel,  on 
account  of  the  lack  of  distance ;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  inchnes  will  still  be  available,  greatly  relieved  by  the  new 
tunnel  from  their  present  congestion,  and  further  that  freight  for 
the  South  Hills  could  easily  be  shipped  to  points  from  which 
access  to  the  new  tunnel  would  be  easy  and  direct.  From  the 
latter  point,  the  connection  can  be  secured  by  climbing  over 
the  railroad  on  a  viaduct,  probably  along  South  Twelfth  Street, 
and  thence  following  the  hillside  westward  on  a  more  or  less 
uniform  gradient  to  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel.  An  examination 
of  the   hillside   below  the  Brownsville  Road  indicates  that  such  a 


56         PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

street,  though  somewhat  costly,  is  not  in  the  least  impracticable. 
It  might  be  best  to  construct  it  with  a  minimum  of  cutting  by 
the  use  of  a  side-hill  viaduct  of  reinforced  concrete. 

With  the  modifications  above  suggested  the  plan  proposed 
by  the  residents  of  the  South  Hills,  for  a  bridge  and  tunnel  to 
the  South  Hills  District,  is  eminently  desirable.  It  is,  therefore, 
urgently  recommended  as  the  best  method  of  securing  an 
adequate  main  thoroughfare  artery  to  this  region. 

OUTLYING   THOROUGHFARE    IMPROVEMENTS 

The  following  recommendations  are  in  no  sense  the  result  of 
an  exhaustive  study  of  the  main  thoroughfare  system  of  the 
Pittsburgh  District.  They  comprise  only  the  most  desirable 
improvements  noted  during  a  general  study  of  the  outlying 
branches  and  connections  of  those  thoroughfares  which  concen- 
trate upon  the  down  town  district.  The  fact  that  a  study  under- 
taken with  such  a  point  of  view  has  led  so  far  afield  that  it  has 
compelled  the  investigation  of  existing  and  probable  connections 
so  remote  as  some  of  those  noted  below,  is,  in  itself,  evidence  of 
the  complexity  of  the  highway  problem,  and  of  the  fact  that  it 
cannot  be  dealt  with  locally,  in  a  piecemeal  manner,  without  great 
sacrifice  of  opportunity. 

The  improvements  are  designated  in  the  following  text  by 
numbers  which  correspond  with  those  on  the  accompanying 
folded  map  of  the  Pittsburgh  District.* 

I.  Sixteenth  Street  Bridge. — The  first  thoroughfare  branch  of 
the  Penn  Avenue  artery  is  the  Sixteenth  Street  bridge.  Because  of 
its  physical  unfitness,  and  because  it  is,  at  present,  an  unreasonable 
interference  to  navigation,  it  must  soon  be  rebuilt. t 

At  the  time  of  reconstruction,  the  railroad  grade  crossing  on 
each  approach  should  be  eliminated,  probably  by  carrying  the 
street  over  the  tracks.  At  the  southern  end,  the  grades  make 
such  a  change  very  simple.  At  the  northern  end,  the  separation 
of  grades  will  be  facilitated  if  the  tracks  of  the  Pittsburgh  and 
Western  Division  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  can  be  lowered 
a  few  feet.  No  physical  objection  to  such  a  change  of  track 
grade  is  apparent. 

*  Map  at  the  end  of  Part  II. 

t   See  Part  V,  Special  Report  on  the   Allegheny  River  Bridges. 


OUTLYING   IMPROVEMENTS 


57 


Diagram  No.  i.    Thirty-third  Street  improvement.    Profile  of  Liberty  Avenue 

2.  Twenty-eighth  Street  Grade  Crossings. — Near  Twenty-eighth 
Street  the  tracks  of  the  Allegheny  Valley  Railroad  cross  both 
Liberty  and  Penn  Avenues  at  grade.  These  grade  crossings  should 
be  eliminated,  the  railroad  tracks  being  raised  to  go  over  both 
streets. 

3.  Thirty-third  Street  Improvement. — At  Thirty-third  Street  on 
Liberty  Avenue  there  is  a  railroad  grade  crossing.  The  street 
should  be  lifted  over  the  tracks  and  the  filling  extended  west  to 
Thirty-first  Street  and  east  to  Thirty-seventh  Street;  in  this  way 
the  gradient  of  the  steep  portion  of  the  Lawrenceville  hill  can  be 
reduced  from  5.6  per  cent  to  4  per  cent,  which  is  the  present 
gradient  on  the  rest  of  the  hill.  (Diagram  No.  i.)  An  easy  connec- 
tion should  be  made  with  the  Penn  Avenue  artery  at  about  Thirty- 
first  Street.  (Diagram 
No.  2.)  With  these 
changes  the  Penn-Lib- 
erty  line  would  pro- 
vide a  thoroughfare 
from  the  down  town 
district  to  the  East 
End  with  a  4  per  cent 
maximum  gradient, 
which     is     easier    than 


M/////////M 


'Ml. 


Ave;.. 


FREIGHT     '      '     YARDS 


Diagram  No.  2.    Penn-Liberty  connection  at 
Thirtv-firxt   Street 


58 


PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 


can  be  reasonably  obtained  on  any  other  line.  The  northern  end 
of  the  Thirty-third  Street  bridge  and  the  west  end  of  Ligonier 
Streets  should  be  raised  to  meet  the  new  grade  of  Liberty  Ave- 
nue; the  bridge  will  then  be  about  level,  and  Ligonier  Street  will 
slope  between  6  and  7  per  cent  down  to  Thirty-fourth  Street. 

4.  Sassafras  Street  Outlet. — Raising  the  grade  on  Liberty  Avenue 
will  seriously  interfere  with  the  western  outlet  of  Sassafras  Street. 

But  if  this  street  becomes 
of  sufficient  importance — 
and  its  location  in  the  valley 
close  to  the  railroads  sug- 
gests a  considerable  devel- 
opment of  its  frontage  for 
freight  houses,  warehouses 
or  manufacturing — it  will  be 
simple  and  satisfactory  to 
bring  the  western  outlet  to 
the  junction  of  Penn  Avenue 
and  Butler  Street  by  means 
of  a  short  tunnel  under 
Thirty-fourth  Street  from 
the  south  side  of  Liberty 
Avenue  to  the  northwest  side 
of  Ligonier  Street. 

5.  Penn-Liberty  Connection 
at  Howley  Street. — A  connec- 
tion northeast  from  the  junc- 
tion of  Liberty  Avenue  and 
Main  Street  to  Penn  Avenue 
will  be  needed.  (Diagram 
No.  3).  This  can  be  secured 
by  widening  and   extending 

Diagram  No.  3.    Penn-Liberty  connection  at  Howlcy       Street.  Thereby 

Howley  Street  traffic  bound  for  the  Garfield 

District  and  east  thereof  can  chmb  the  Lawrenceville  hill  by  the 
comparatively  easy  gradient  (4  per  cent)  on  Liberty  Avenue, 
avoiding  the  steeper  hill  (about  5  per  cent)  on  Penn  avenue.  This 
will  also  connect  with  the  proposed  Bloomfield  bridge  to  Grant 
Boulevard. 


OUTLYING    IiMPROVEMENTS  59 

6.  Forty-third  Street  Bridge.  —  Butler  Street  is  the  main  extension 
of  the  Penn  Avenue  artery  up  the  Allegheny  River,  and  its  first 
branch  thoroughfare  is  at  Forty-third  Street.  The  Forty-third 
Street  bridge,  like  the  one  at  Sixteenth  Street,  must  soon  be 
rebuilt.*  This  bridge  connects  Millvale  and  large  sections  of 
Shaler  and  Ross  townships  with  the  Point  District  via  the  Penn 
Avenue  artery.  The  new  bridge  should  be  of  ample  width  and 
should  be  high  enough  so  that  the  approaches  can  be  carried  over 
the  railroad  tracks  at  either  end. 

7.  Sharpsburg  Bridge. — The  Sharpsburg  bridge  is  the  next 
important  branch  of  the  Butler  Street  thoroughfare.  It  forms  the 
most  direct  connection  from  Pittsburgh  proper  to  the  boroughs 
of  Sharpsburg  and  Etna  and  to  large  portions  of  Shaler  and 
O'Hara  townships.  The  bridge  should  be  widened — the  present 
roadway  being  only  21  feet  including  car  tracks — and  the  northern 
approaches  should  be  improved.    (Sections  60  and  61  following.) 

8.  Butler  Street  Improvement. — iFrom  a  point  nearly  opposite 
the  western  end  of  Baker  Street  east  to  Haights  Run,  there  is  no 
property  of  value  for  manufacturing,  or  for  dwellings,  or  stores, 
between  Butler  Street  and  the  railroad  which  runs  below  it  on  the 
river  bank.  The  same  is  true  east  of  Haights  Run  as  far  as  the 
Brilliant  pumping  station  or  the  present  beginning  of  Beechwood 
Boulevard.  It  seems  very  desirable  that  these  portions  of  Butler 
Street,  instead  of  being  widened  merely  enough  for  traffic  accom- 
modation, be  developed  as  a  picturesque  riverside  parkway — a 
fitting  approach  to  Highland  Park  and  a  continuation  of  Beech- 
wood  Boulevard.  This  involves  the  control  of  the  narrow  strip  of 
property  between  Butler  Street  and  the  railroad;  though  occasional 
houses  might  be  allowed  to  remain  therein  without  detriment  to 
the  effect  as  a  whole.  The  Bureau  of  Parks  is  working  along 
these  general  lines,  and  has  already  bought  many  parcels  of  the 
land  north  of  Highland  Park  between  Butler  Street  and  the 
railroad. 

9.  Haights  Run  Bridge. — The  present  Butler  Street  bridge 
over  Haights  Run  is  of  light  construction  and  has  a  total  width 
of  only  17  feet;  this  should  be  rebuilt  of  ample  strength  and 
capacity. 

10.  The  Aspinwall  Bridge. — The    Aspinwall    bridge,    crossing 

*  See  Part  V,  Special  Report  on  the  Allegheny  River  Bridges. 


6o 


PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 


the  river  at  Six  Mile  Island  from  Butler  Street  to  the  eastern 
portion  of  Sharpsburg,  is  narrow  {^6  feet  over  all)  and  is  of  light 
construction.  It  is  so  important  that  it  will  some  day  need  to  be 
rebuilt  of  ample  width  and  strength  for  main  thoroughfare  use. 
At  its  southern  end  it  connects  (i)  with  the  Butler  Street 
thoroughfare,  of  which  it  forms  the  northeastern  extension,  and 
(2)  with  a  proposed  cross-town  line  (Section  25  following)  up  the 
Haights  Run  Valley  to  East  Liberty.  On  the  north  it  connects 
directly  with  Guyasuta  and  Aspinwall,  with  most  of  the  country 
in    O'Hara    township,  and    with    the    Freeport    Road  leading  to 


^/'///////////////////, 


i^'///Az^: 


Diagram   No.  4.     Forbes   Street — Fifth   Avenue  connection   at   Soho 

Claremont,  Montrose,  Oakmont  and  all  points  up  the  Allegheny 
River.  This  Freeport  Road  is  destined  to  become  the  main 
thoroughfare  up  the  Allegheny  because  the  precipitous  character 
of  the  south  bank  of  the  river,  and  the  consequent  almost  total 
absence  of  land  suited  to  residential  or  commercial  development 
between  Highland  Park  and  Verona,  make  the  direct  extension 
of  Butler  Street,  as  a  riverside  thoroughfare,  both  expensive  and 
impracticable. 

II.  Forbes  Street — Fifth  Avenue  Connection  at  Soho. — At  Soho 
the  connection  between  the  Forbes  Street  artery  and  Fifth  Avenue 
— the  principal  thoroughfare  to  Bellefield  and  all  points  to  the 
east  thereof — is  most  simply  accomplished  by  splitting  the  Forbes 
Street  artery  at  Seneca  Street  into  two  levels,  the  upper,  on  the 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS 


6i 


north    side,    running    on    nearly   a  straight  Hne  and  gradient    to 

Fifth  Avenue,  joining  it  just  west  of  the  school   house.  (Diagram 

No.  4.)     The    lower  portion    would  become    the  continuation  of 

Forbes  Street,  and  should  be  raised  at  Brady  Street  about  17  feet, 

or  so  much  that  the  gradient  on  Brady  Street,  up  from  Forbes 

Street  under  the  proposed  high-level  street  to  Fifth  Avenue,  will 

not  be  over  6  or  7  per  cent.    A  good 

gradient  will   still    be    possible    on    the 

approach    from    Forbes    Street    to    the 

Twenty-second  Street  bridge;  and  the 

Forbes     Street     gradient,    down     from 

Seneca  Street,  will    be    much    reduced. 

These  changes  will  greatly  improve  the 

means  of  access  to  the  Twenty-second 

Street  bridge. 

On  Forbes  Street,  just  west  of  Craft 
Avenue,  there  is  a  bad  gradient  for  a 
main  thoroughfare  (about  6^2  per  cent) 
which  is  not  easy  to  improve ;  but  the 
above  cross  connection  at  Brady  Street 
will  give  a  through  line  to  the  East 
End  via  the  Forbes  Street  artery  and 
Fifth  Avenue,  with  a  maximum  gradient 
of  about  4^  per  cent  (on  the  Soho 
hill). 

12.  Fifth  Avenue — Center  Avenue 
Connection  at  Soho. — As  a  main  thorough- 
fare feeding  Minersville 
and  the  northern  part  of 
the  Hill  District,  either 
from  the  South  Side  via 
the  Twenty-second  Street 
bridge,  or  from  the  Point 
District  via  Fifth  Avenue 
or  Forbes  Street,  a  connec- 
tion is  needed  on  a  reasonable  gradient  from  Fifth  Avenue  to 
Center  Avenue  through  the  valley  south  of  Soho  hill.  Such  a 
street  (Diagram  No.  5)  could  leave  Fifth  Avenue  at  Jumonville 
Street,  start  along  the   location  of   Wyandotte   Street,  then    curve 


Diagram  No.  5.     Fiftli  Avenue — Center  Avenue 
connection  at  Soho 


62  PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

around  the  nose  of  the  hill  and  follow  the  hillside  on  the  west  of 
the  valley;  thus,  by  cutting  away  some  of  the  recent  filling  at  the 
upper  end  of  the  valley,  it  could  reach  Center  Avenue  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Soho  Street 
with  a  uniform 
gradient  of  about  3 
per  cent.  At  pres- 
ent there  is  no  way 
of  reaching  this 
high  land  on  a 
gradient  less  than  7 
per  cent. 

The     new     street 

Diagram   No.  6.    Ellsworth   Avenue  extension  shown     On     the     dia- 

gram is  preferred  to  the  improvement  and  extension  of  Moultrie 
Street  because  (i)  it  gives  a  better  gradient, (2)  it  is  a  more  direct 
approach  from  the  down  town  district,  and  (3)  it  leaves  the 
bottom  of  the  valley  available  for  enlarging  the  Moultrie  Street 
playground.* 

13.  Ellsworth  Avenue  Extension.— As  Fifth  Avenue  is  the 
principal  thoroughfare  to  Bellefield,  so  Ellsworth  Avenue  becomes 
its  main  branch  or 
extension  from 
Bellefield  to  East 
Liberty.  This  street 
should  not  end  at 
Neville  Street,  as 
at  present,  but 
should  be  ex- 
tended to  the 
corner  of  Craig 
Street  and  Fifth 
Avenue.    (Diagram 

No.  6.) 

14.  Monongahela  Hillside  Thoroughfare.— Th^  thoroughfare 
requirements  from  the  Forbes  Street  artery  up  the  Monongahela 
River  can  best  be  met  by  a  hillside  street,  partly  new  and  partly 
following  existing  streets,  running  substantially  parallel  to   Second 

*See  Part  IV  Section    i,  page   117. 


A  one-sided  hill-street  in   Geneva,  possessing  an 
incidental  recreative  value 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS 


63 


Avenue  but  along  the  hillside  above  the  railroad  tracks.  This 
thoroughfare  would  leave  Forbes  Street  at  the  bend  about  1200 
feet  east  of  Brady  Street,  cross  the  little  valley  (which  should  be 
filled  north  of  the  new  street)  and  extend  eastward,  crossing  Bates 
Run  on  a  viaduct,  and  using,  where  possible,  parts  of  Lawn  and 
Frazier  Streets,  to  the  mouth  of  Four  Mile  Run.  Thence,  by 
another  viaduct,  it  would  connect  with  Sylvan  Avenue,  on  the  north 
side  of  the  valley,  and  follow  this  street  widened  to  Hazel- 
wood  Avenue ;  by  another  viaduct  it  would  cross  the  Flow- 
ers Avenue  valley  to  Glenwood  Avenue 
,,.  _  and  follow   the    latter   widened    and    par- 

tially regraded  to  Mansion  Street.  There 
it  would  bend  to  the  northeast,  cut 
through  the  plateau  land  to  the  next  ra- 
vine, cross  this  on  a  viaduct  and,  bending 
southward     again,      descend 


Diagram   No.   7. 
Monongahela       hillside 
thoroughfare — a  typical 
section. 


around  the  nose  of   the  hill   to 
the  Glenwood  bridge.    So  easy 
a  gradient  can  be    obtained   on 
this    new    street    that    it 
may    reasonably    be   ex- 
pected to  carry  nearly  all 


n 


the  through  traffic.  With  proper 

connections  (the   most   important   of 

which  are  described  below),  it  will  also  take 

most  of  the    travel  to    and   from  the  residen-  zNOAvt. 

tial  districts  lying  above  It  to  the  northeast. 

The  location  of  this  street,  high  on  the  hillside  above  the 
Monongahela  River,  presents  unusual  opportunities  incidental  to 
serving  its  primary  purpose  as  a  main  thoroughfare.  With  an 
ample  roadway  for  all  kinds  of  traffic,  with  trees  for  shade  and 
decoration,  with  a  broad  promenade  overlooking  the  river  and 
the  hills  to  the  south,  it  would  furnish  rare  and  much-needed 
facilities  for  recreation ;  and,  further,  it  would  have  a  distinctive 
character  most  appropriate  to  the  rugged  topography  of  the 
Pittsburgh  District.    (Diagram  No.  7.) 

15.  'Bates  Run  Connection. — Starting  from  the  western  end  of 
this  new  street,   the  first  important    transverse    street    connection 


64         PITTSBURGH— MAIN   THOROUGHFARES 

would  be  at  Bates  Run.  Here  a  street  should  be  run  up  the  east 
side  of  the  valley,  not  far  from  the  present  location  of  Romeo 
Street,  to  the  intersection  of  Wilmot  and  Bates  Streets,  thus 
reaching  the  Oakland  District. 

1 6.  Greenfield  Avenue  Connection. — On  the  southeast  side  of 
Four  Mile  Run  the  new  thoroughfare  will  pass  over  Greenfield 
Avenue.  But  a  connection  should  be  made  therewith  by  running 
a  practically  level  street,  from  about  the  junction  point  of  Sylvan 
Avenue  and  the  new  thoroughfare,  northeast  along  the  hillside 
adjacent  to  Greenfield  Avenue  until  it  meets  the  Greenfield 
Avenue   grade. 

17.  Greenfield  and  Squirrel  Hill  Extension. — From  this  point  on 
Greenfield  Avenue  a  new  street  should  be  built  running  to  the 
northeast.  It  would  cross  the  first  little  ravine  on  a  viaduct, 
thence  follow  the  south  bank  of  the  Four  Mile  Run  valley,  climb- 
ing at  a  uniform  gradient,  and  join  Beechwood  Boulevard  at  the 
southern  end  of  the  bridge  into  Schenley  Park.  This  will  furnish 
a  direct  connection  from  the  new  hillside  thoroughfare  to  the 
eastern  portion  of  the  Greenfield  District  and  to  Squirrel  Hill;  the 
maximum  gradient  will  be  only  about  3%  per  cent  instead  of 
about  7  per  cent  as  at  present  on  Greenfield  Avenue. 

This  new  street  could  be  extended,  from  the  point  where  it 
joins  the  boulevard,  underneath  the  Greenfield  Avenue  viaduct, 
along  the  side  of  the  valley  to  the  south  and  up  to  the  higher 
portions  of  the  Greenfield  District.  The  gradient  of  such  a  street 
need  not  exceed  5  per  cent. 

18.  Hazelwood  Grade  Crossing. — Although  the  construction  of 
the  hillside  thoroughfare  (Section  14  above)  does  away  with  the 
necessity  for  widening  Second  Avenue  east  of  the  Tenth  Street 
bridge,  Second  Avenue  is  still  an  important  main  line,  and  all 
feasible  improvements  should  be  made  thereon.  One  of  these 
is  the  elimination  of  the  grade  crossing  at  Hazelwood,  and  here 
Second  Avenue  should  probably  be  carried  under  the  tracks. 

19.  Glenwood  Bridge. — -The  Glenwood  bridge  becomes  a  most 
important  link  in  the  thoroughfare  system;  it  connects  Second 
Avenue  and  the  proposed  hillside  line  at  one  end,  with  Eighth 
Avenue  in  West  Homestead  and  with  the  mouth  of  Streets  Run 
at  the  other.  Eighth  Avenue  leads  up  the  Monongahela  to  Home- 
stead,   Munhall,    Rankin,    Braddock,    Bessemer,    Duquesne    and 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS  65 

McKeesport;  Streets  Run  is  the  starting  point  of  several  impor- 
tant thoroughfare  lines  into  the  country  south  and  east.  One  of 
these  thoroughfares  will  undoubtedly  be  a  main  line  from  the  city 
proper  to  Dravosburg  and  points  above  on  the  Monongahela 
River.  The  bridge  should  certainly  be  widened  and  the  gradients 
of  the  approaches  improved,  especially  that  from  Second  Avenue. 

20.  "Baum  Street  Improvement. — Grant  Boulevard  will  always  be 
an  important  line  to  the  East  End,  especially  for  fast-moving 
travel.  To  improve  its  outlet  eastward  from  Herron  Hill,  Baum 
Street  and  South  Atlantic  Avenue  should  be  connected  and 
extended  west  to  Craig  Street.  The  connection  between  the 
two  streets  is  easily  made  by  cutting  through  the  corner  between 
Liberty  Avenue  and  Rebecca  Street,  leaving  a  small  triangular 
park.  The  extension  of  South  Atlantic  Avenue  will  require  a 
bridge  over  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  just  east  of  Morewood 
Avenue,  a  bridge  over  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  tracks,  and  the  grad- 
ing and  paving  of  the  street  already  located  west  to  Melwood 
Avenue  and  Craig  Street.* 

At  its  eastern  end  the  outlet  into  Penn  Avenue  should  be  im- 
proved by  widening  Whitfield  Street  on  the  east  side  and  by 
rounding  back  the  corner  of  Baum  Street  and  South  Highland 
Avenue. 

21.  Center  Avenue  Improvement.  —  The  junction  of  Center, 
Ellsworth  and  South  Highland  Avenues  at  East  Liberty  is  certain 
to  become  a  congested  point  and  to  require  more  ample  outlet 
into  Penn  Avenue.  Several  possible  solutions  have  been  consid- 
ered, but  the  simplest  plan,  and  probably  in  the  end  the  most 
economical  and  satisfactory,  is  to  widen  Center  Avenue  on  the 
south  side  from  South  Highland  Avenue  to  Penn  Avenue,  cutting 
off  the  jog  at  the  latter  end.  This  improvement  will  give  ample 
connection  with  Penn  Avenue  and  the  more  important  streets 
radiating  from  East  Liberty.    (Diagram  No.  9.) 

22.  Hamilton  Avenue  Extension. — The  proposed  extension  of 
Hamilton  Avenue  from  Fifth  Avenue  west  to  Penn  Avenue  is  cer- 
tainly desirable.  The  western  end,  however,  should  not  be  located 
adjacent  to  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  tracks  (as  planned  by  the 
Bureau  of  Surveys)  but  should  join  Frankstown  Avenue  at 
Station  Street.    (Diagram  No.  9.)    This  location  provides  a  more 

*  This  improvement  is  provided  for  in  the  current  bond  issue. 


66         PITTSBURGH-MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 


economical  arrangement  of  streets  and  lots  because  it  avoids  (i) 
constructing  a  main  thoroughfare  with  business  frontage  on  only 
one  side,  and  (2)  leaving  a  building  block  only  100  feet  in  total 
depth  between  two  main  streets.  The  plan  necessitates  widening 
Frankstown  Avenue,  but  this  street  is  an  important  thoroughfare 
much  in  need  of  widening  on  its  own  account  and  a  few  additional 
feet  to  accommodate  Hamilton  Avenue  traffic  will  not  materially 
affect  the  cost. 

At  Its  eastern  end  the  Hamilton  Avenue  extension  should 
connect  more  directly  with  Kelly  Street.  This  connection  can  be 
secured  by  widening  and  constructing  Kelly  Street,  as  located, 
from  Fifth  Avenue  to  Julius  Street,  and  from  there  building  a 
short  diagonal  to  Hamilton  Avenue.    (Diagram  No.   8.) 

23.  Negley  Run  'Boulevard.— E^st  Liberty  is  so  important  a 
junction  point  of  main  thoroughfares,  a  distributing  point  as  it 
were,  that  good  connections  to  all  localities  are  important.  One  of 
these  is  a  bdulevard,  or  street,  chiefly  for  pleasure  vehicles,  down 
Negley  Run  to  Beechwood  Boulevard.  It  could  practically  follow 
the  lines  of  Princeton  Place  and  Butler  Street.    By  widening  and 


Diao-ram  No.  8.     Hamilton  Avenue  extension 


regrading  these  streets  and  by  acquiring  and  controllmg  the 
ravine  and  its  banks  a  very  attractive  boulevard  may  easily  be 
secured.  Incidentally  an  extremely  unattractive  and  undesirable 
negro  and  Italian  settlement,  in  this  valley,  will  be  cleared  out. 

24.  Larimer  Avenue  Extension.— Vnnctton  Place,  or  the  boule- 
vard just  proposed,  and  Larimer  Avenue,  a  thoroughfare  leading 
into  the  Lincoln  District,  both  dead-end  at  Broad  Street.  A  con- 
nection for  both  should  be  made  through  to  Penn  Avenue. 
(Diagram  No.  9.) 


OUTLYING   IMPROVEMEiNTS 


67 


When  this  change  is  made  and  Frankstovvn  Avenue  is  widened 
(Section  22)  the  eastern  corner  of  Frankstown  and  Penn  Avenue 
should  be  cut  back  to  aid  general  traffic  circulation. 


Diagram  No.  9.    East  Liberty  Improvement 

25.  Haights  Run  Thoroughfare. — Another  connection  to  be 
desired  is  from  the  East  Liberty  center  to  the  Aspinwall  bridge. 
The  needed  link  is  from  Stanton  Avenue  to  Butler  Street.  Fol- 
lowing Haights  Avenue  for  two  blocks  the  new  street  should 
extend  down  the  west  bank  of  the  Haights  Run  valley,  with  a 
maximum  gradient  of  about  3^  per  cent,  to  Butler  Street.  This 
new  street  would  be  used  for  both  business  and  pleasure  traffic, 
and  its  location  on  the  steep  side  of  a  beautiful  valley,  much  of 
which  is  already  park  land,  will  greatly  enhance  its  value  as  a 
pleasure  drive.*  West  frontage  on  this  street,  where  the  bank  is 
not  too  high  for  use,  will  have  a  peculiar  value  for  residential 
purposes  owing  to  the  permanence  and  beauty  of  an  unobstructed 
outlook  toward  the  park. 

A  branch  connection  might  easily  be  secured  (at  a  somewhat 
steeper  gradient)  between  this  new  street  and  the  table  land  of 
the  Morningside  District  by  winding  up  the  side  of  the  branch 

*See  Part  IV',  Section  15,  jiaj^e   121. 


68  PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

valley  and  joining  Chislett  Street  four  or  five  hundred  feet  south 
of  Martha  Street. 

26.  Meadow  Street  Connections. — Stanton  Avenue  is  already  an 
important  thoroughfare  feeding  the  high  sections  of  Morningside 
and  cross-connecting  many  radial  streets  especially  in  the  High- 
land Park  District.  Meadow  Street  is  its  logical  extension  to  the 
southeast,  and  by  an  approach  from  Stanton  Avenue  to  the  new 
Meadow  Street  bridge  over  Negley  Run  these  two  streets  can 
and  should  be  connected.  It  is  understood  that  this  connection 
is  already  being  made. 

Unfortunately  on  the  east  Meadow  Street  comes  almost  to  a 
dead-end  a  block  or  so  before  reaching  the  junction  of  Franks- 
town  and  Fifth  Avenues.  Owing  to  the  location  of  the  Pittsburgh 
Hospital,  the  direct  extension  of  Meadow  Street  is  impracticable 
and  the  outlet  to  Frankstown  Avenue  can  best  be  secured  by 
widening  Finley  Street. 

27.  Stanton  Avenue  Connection  to  the  Lincoln  District. — A  viaduct 
should  be  built  from  Stanton  Avenue,  at  substantially  the  point 
where  it  enters  Highland  Park,  running  over  Beechwood  Boule- 
vard and  the  Brillant  Cutoff  tracks  to  that  portion  of  Highland 
Park  lying  east  of  the  railroad  and  now  practically  unused  because 
of  its  inaccessibility. 

Furthermore,  if  it  shall  be  possible  to  acquire  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  Highland  Cemetery  property  (still  vacant)  for 
residential  or  other  taxpaying  use,  or  if  simply  a  right-of-way  can 
be  secured  through  the  cemetery  property,  a  combined  thorough- 
fare and  boulevard  should  be  built  from  the  viaduct  above 
proposed,  running  about  as  shown  on  the  map  and  connecting 
with  Lincoln  Avenue  at  the  top  of  the  hill.  By  this  line  the  steep 
gradients  on  Lincoln  Avenue  can  be  avoided  and  the  high  country 
to  the  east  reached  on  a  gradient  of  not  over  4^4^  per  cent. 

28.  Beechwood  Boulevard  Connection. — Chiefly  for  pleasure 
traffic  more  street  accommodation  is  needed  between  the  ends 
of  Beechwood  Boulevard,  at  Frankstown  Avenue  and  at  Fifth 
Avenue.  As  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  freight  yards  practically 
prevent  linking  the  ends  of  the  Boulevard  by  a  new  street  west  of 
Fifth  Avenue,  the  best  plan  would  be  to  widen  Fifth  Avenue, 
from  boulevard  to  boulevard,  enough  for  two  roadways,  one  for 
pleasure    vehicles    and    the    other   for  business   traffic.     (Diagram 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS 


69 


No.  10.)  The  west  roadway  would  be  best  suited  for  pleasure 
travel  because  more  than  half  of  the  west  frontage  is  occupied  by 
freight  yards  requiring  access  at  only  one  or  two  fixed  points. 


Diagram  No.  10.     Beechwood  Boulevard  connection.  A  possible  section 


29.  Boundary  Street  Improvement. — The  plan  to  relocate  and 
lower  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  tracks  in  Junction  Hollow 
and  to  construct  a  cross-town  thoroughfare  on  the  present  rail- 
road site,  is  advantageous  to  all  concerned  and,  it  is  hoped,  will 
soon  be  carried  out.  The  new  street  (Boundary  Street  relocated), 
at  its  southern  end,  should  connect  both  with  Second  Avenue  and 
the  proposed  hillside  thoroughfare  (Section  14);  with  the  former 
by  following  the  present  line  of  Forward  Avenue  south  to  Green- 
field Avenue,  and  with  the  latter  by  going  over  the  Baltimore  & 
Ohio  tracks  just  north  of  the  present  Sylvan  Avenue  viaduct,  and 
extending  west  along  the  bank  up  to  the  new  hillside  street.  At 
its  northern  end  the  new  Boundary  Street  would  bend  to  the  east, 
after  passing  under  Forbes  Street,  and,  following  the  side  of  the 
ravine  to  get  an  easy  gradient,  curve  westward  again  and  join 
Fifth  Avenue  at  Clyde  Street.  A  branch  to  the  west  could  connect 
with  Boquet  Street  at  Joncaire  and  with  Forbes  Street  at  the 
Schenley  Park  entrance.  (See  Bellefield  Improvement,  Plans 
A  and   B,  Part  IV,  pages  102  to  104.) 

The  new  Boundary  Street  line  should  further  be  extended 
from  Clyde  Street  north  to  Millvale  Avenue  at  Center  Avenue. 
This  will  give  a  continuous  cross-town  thoroughfare — the  first  one 
on  a  good  gradient  east  of  the  down  town  district — from  Second 
Avenue  on  the  south  to  Penn  Avenue  on  the  north,  tapping, 
en  route,  practically  all  the  radial  thoroughfares  in  the  East  End. 

30.  Murray  Avenue   Extension. —  Murray    Avenue,   in    Squirrel 


70         PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

Hill,  is  of  secondary  importance  as  a  thoroughfare,  owing  to  its 
steep  gradients:  but  its  usefulness  can  and  should  be  increased 
by  extending  the  street  south  along  the  line  of  the  street  railway 
from  Forward  Avenue,  over  Beechwood  Boulevard  on  a  viaduct 
or  bridge,  to  Hazelwood  Avenue. 

Practically  as  a  continuation  of  this  line  and  of  the  Boulevard, 
the  present  roadway  to  Brown's  bridge,  now  maintained  by  the 
Street  Railways  Company,  should  be  widened  and  improved  as  a 
city  street. 

31.  Beechwood  "Boulevard  IR^-alignment. — Beechwood  Boulevard 
at  Monitor  Street  makes  two  uncomfortably  sharp  bends  to  skirt 
a  ravine.  The  ravine  should  be  filled  out  two  or  three  hundred 
feet  from  the  upper  end,  and  the  Boulevard  should  be  carried 
across  on  an  easy  curve  at  the  eastern  edge  of  the  fill. 

32.  Second  Avenue  Extension. — From  the  Glenwood  bridge  to 
the  mouth  of  Nine  Mile  Run,  the  old  location  of  Second  Avenue, 
between  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  tracks  and  the  river,  presents  a 
first-rate  opportunity  for  a  riverside  street  or  boulevard.  There 
are  practically  no  buildings  or  industries  requiring  river  frontage 
for  commercial  purposes,  and  yet  there  is  sufficient  room  for  a 
riverside  thoroughfare  of  ample  width  without  encroaching  too 
much  upon  the  flood  section  of  the  river.  In  a  city  where  rivers 
play  so  vital  a  part  In  the  commercial  development,  and  form 
a  most  telling  and  characteristic  element  in  the  landscape,  every 
opportunity  should  be  seized  to  enjoy  as  well  as  utilize  them. 

To  be  well  above  a  maximum  flood  line,  a  boulevard  along  the 
water's  edge  would  have  to  be  nearly  as  high  as  the  railroad 
grade;  but  to  avoid  the  large  cost  for  river  walls  and  filling,  which 
such  a  construction  would  imply,  the  road  could  be  built  at  a  level 
only  rarely  flooded  without  sacrificing  an  appreciable  amount  of 
Its  essential  value  for  recreative  purposes.  At  its  southern  end  it 
would  rise  over  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  tracks,  a  short  distance 
east  of  the  Glenwood  bridge,  to  connect  with  the  proposed 
hillside  thoroughfare  (Section  14);  and  at  its  northern  end  it 
would  rise  to  connect  with  Brown's  bridge,  and  from  there  could 
extend  into  the  Nine  Mile  Run  valley.  A  parallel  location  for 
this  street,  on  the  hillside  above  the  railroad,  has  been  suggested 
and  carefully  considered;  but  it  is  believed  that,  owing  to  the 
large  amount  of  retaining  wall  required,  the  cost  of  construction 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS  71 

would  be  almost,  if  not  fully,  as  great  as  in  the  other  location, 
and,  other  things  being  equal,  it  is  a  very  real  disadvantage  to 
have  a  railroad  between  the  river  and  a  road  which  would  other- 
wise have  so  much  value  as  a  pleasure  drive.  In  either  location, 
however,  this  street  would  form  an  attractive  and  important  link 
in  a   hoped-for  park   and   parkway  development.* 

22'  Batavia  Street. — Frankstown  Road  is  the  principal 
thoroughfare  feeding  large  portions  of  Penn  township  and 
country  to  the  east.  The  importance  of  this  line  means  inevitably 
the  concentration  of  much  traffic  at  the  junction  of  Frankstown 
Avenue  and  Oakwood  Street  where  the  Frankstown  Road  begins. 
Some  relief  can  and  should  be  afforded  by  improving  portions  of 
Batavia  Street  and  extending  it  to  Frankstown  Road  at  Blacka- 
dore  Avenue.  Batavia  Street  should  also  be  extended  across 
Oakwood  Street  to  Kelly  Street,  thus  encouraging  the  use  of  the 
latter  as  an  approach  to  the  Frankstown  Road  thoroughfare. 

34.  JrUkinsburg  Grade  Crossings.  —  In  Wilkinsburg  three 
important  streets, — Rebecca  Avenue,  South  Avenue  and  Penn 
Avenue, — cross  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  tracks  at  grade. 
Although  plans  for  separating  these  grades  must  depend  on  the 
general  plan  of  the  Railroad  for  improvements  in  this  region, 
it  seems  that  the  best  solution,  both  for  the  Railroad  and  for  the 
people,  will  probably  be  to  raise  the  tracks  as  much  as  possible 
and  to  carry  them  over  the  streets.  It  is  supposed  that  a  plan 
to  raise  their  tracks  is  now  under  consideration  by  the  Railroad. 

35.  Jf^ilkinsburg-Edgewood  Connection. — Improved  thoroughfare 
connections  from  Wilkinsburg  through  Edgewood  to  Swiss- 
vale,  Rankin  and  beyond  are  much  needed.  Pennwood  and 
Edgewood  Avenues  offer  perhaps  the  most  promising  route.  By 
sufficiently  widening  the  former  from  Hampton  Avenue  to 
Hutchinson  Avenue  It  can  be  divided,  the  east  half  remaining 
as  at  present,  and  the  west  half  rising  gradually  to  an  overhead 
railroad  crossing  at  Hutchinson  Avenue.  East  of  the  tracks 
the  street  would  descend  gradually  to  the  south  over  Race  Street 
to  the  junction  of  Svvlssvale  and  Edgewood  Avenues,  forming 
practically  an  extension  of  the  latter. 

Pennwood  Avenue  should  also  be  extended  along  the  railroad 
from   Rebecca   Avenue    to   Penn    Avenue.    If    possible,    the  small 

*  Part   IV,    Section   8,    pajje   119 


72         PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

freight  yard  now  in  the  way  should  be  removed,  perhaps  to  the 
other  side  of  Penn  Avenue,  but  if  this  proves  to  be  impracticable 
it  will  not  be  unreasonably  indirect  to  carry  Pennwood  Avenue 
around  and  simply  cut  back  the  southerly  corner  of  the  freight 
yard. 

26.  Braddock  Avenue  —  Northerly  End.  —  Braddock  Avenue 
should  be  an  important  thoroughfare,  cross-town  from  Franks- 
town  Avenue  to  Forbes  Street,  and  radial  from  Forbes  Street 
southeast.  North  of  Penn  Avenue  it  is  only  located;  this  portion 
should  be  constructed  and  the  railroad  grade  crossing  eliminated. 

37.  braddock  Avenue  Viaduct. — To  avoid  the  two,  long,  bad 
gradients  on  Braddock  Avenue,  crossing  the  Nine  Mile  Run 
valley,  a  diagonal  connection  should  be  made  from  Henrietta 
Street  and  Braddock  Avenue  to  Hutchinson  and  Laclaire  Streets. 
From  the  southern  end  of  Laclaire  Street  a  viaduct  should  be 
built  across  the  valley,  and  connections  should  be  made  to  South 
Braddock  Avenue  at  the  top  of  the  hill  and  to  Monongahela 
Street  at  Euclaire  Street. 

38.  T{ankin  Improvement. —  Miller  Avenue  and  Fifth  Avenue 
extension  continue  the  Monongahela  Street  thoroughfare  in 
Rankin.  The  sharp  cramped  corners  at  Harriet  Street  should 
be  eliminated  by  cutting  a  diagonal  from  Miller  Avenue  at  Gas 
Alley  to  Fifth  Avenue  extension  at  Harriet  Street. 

The  steep  gradients  and  cramped  turns  from  Hawkins 
Avenue  to  Braddock  Avenue,  at  the  Braddock  borough  line, 
should  be  short-circuited  by  extending  Fifth  Avenue  eastward 
from  Hawkins  Avenue  to  Kenmawr  Avenue,  lowering  the  grade 
of  the  latter  or  even  running  under  it  if  necessary  to  get  an  easy 
gradient,  and  thence  running  southward  along  the  side  of  the 
valley  to  Braddock  Avenue. 

The  portion  of  Braddock  Avenue  north  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  should  connect  with  this  new  street  by  bending  sharply 
to  the  west,  after  crossing  the  tracks,  descending  on  a  gra- 
dient of  4  or  4^  per  cent,  and  joining  the  Fifth  Avenue  extension 
at  about  Antisbury  Street. 

39.  Forbes  Street  Extension. — Kelly  Avenue  is  the  best  exten- 
sion of  Forbes  Street  from  East  End  Avenue,  under  the  Pennsyl- 
vania tracks,  to  the  eastern  portion  of  Wilkinsburg.  The  two 
streets  do  not  connect  easily  at   Peebles   Street,  and    a  diagonal 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS  73 

should  be  run  through  the  Pittsburgh  Field  Club  grounds  from 
East  End  Avenue  to  Kelly  Avenue. 

From  Trenton  Street  to  West  Street,  Kelly  Avenue  is  quite 
steep;  but  the  gradient  can  easily  be  reduced  by  filling  10  or 
12  feet  at  West  Street. 

40.  JVoodstock  Avenue  Extension. — Woodstock  Avenue  is  prob- 
ably the  most  important  thoroughfare  from  Swissvale  to  Brad- 
dock,  East  Pittsburgh,  and  points  up  Turtle  Creek;  but  it  con- 
nects very  indirectly  at  Swissvale  with  Edgewood  and  Braddock 
Avenues,  its  main  feeders.  From  Rosslyn  Street  it  should  be 
extended  to  Center  Street  at  the  end  of  the  Washington  Avenue 
bridge  over  the  railroad,  and  from  there  curve  around  parallel  to 
the  railroad,  descending  gradually  past  the  Swissvale  station  to 
Braddock  Avenue.  The  corner  of  Noble  and  Orchid  Streets 
could  be  lowered  to  meet  the  grade  of  the  new  street,  and  the 
connection  with  Edgewood  Avenue  would  be  via  Orchid  Street 
as  at  present. 

41.  Bell  Avenue  Extension. — Hawkins  and  Bell  Avenues  form 
the  natural  extension  of  the  Woodstock  Avenue  thoroughfare 
through  North  Braddock.  The  connection  between  these  two, 
however  (west  of  Jones  Avenue),  is  Indirect  and  cramped. 
Fortunately  it  can  easily  be  improved;  Bell  Avenue  should  be 
extended  northwest  along  High  Street  (by  widening  the  latter 
on  the  south  side),  thence,  by  a  viaduct  or  filling,  across  the 
ravine  to  join  Hawkins  Avenue  at  the  bend   by  Penn  Street. 

42.  Ardmore  Thoroughfare. — The  route  of  the  Ardmore  car 
line  offers  a  firstrate  opportunity  for  a  direct  thoroughfare  from 
Wilkinsburg  to  East  Pittsburgh  and  thence  up  Turtle  Creek. 
Such  a  thoroughfare  is  much  needed,  partly  because  it  will  open 
up  for  development  large  areas  of  the  back  country  in  Wilkins 
and  Braddock  townships  and  partly  because,  owing  to  the  already 
dense  development  in  Rankin,  Braddock  and  Bessemer,  efficient 
thoroughfare  widenings  between  the  steep  hills  and  the  river 
would  be  so  expensive  as  to  be  hardly  justified  and  very  difficult 
of  attainment.  The  need  for  extensive  street  widenings  through 
these  districts  will  be  practically  eliminated  by  a  thoroughfare 
of  easy  gradient  along  the  Ardmore  route.  It  is  understood  that 
the  County  has  already  begun  the  construction  of  this  street. 

43.  JVilkins     Township     Thoroughfares. — From     Wilkinsburg, 


74         PITTSBURGH-MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

Penn  Avenue  is  the  chief  thoroughfare  approach  to  most  of  the 
hilltop  country  in  Wilkins  township,  feeding  it  via  the  Greens- 
burg  Pike  and  another  highway  to  the  east.  Its  gradient  is  very 
bad.  A  new  approach  can  be  made  to  the  high  land  on  an  easy 
gradient  by  branching  to  the  north  from  the  proposed  Ardmore 
thoroughfare  (Section  42  above)  about  3,000  feet  east  of  Franklin 
Avenue,  crossing  the  mouth  of  the  first  valley  and  following  up 
the  side  of  the  eastern  valley  to  the  hilltop  roads. 

As  a  further  improvement,  opening  up  this  high  land  and 
connecting  the  important  radial  thoroughfares,  this  new  street 
should  be  extended  north  along  the  hilltop  to  Frankstown  Road. 

44.  Greensburg  Pike.—Yrom  the  northwest  the  Greensburg 
Pike  (or  Penn  Avenue)  descends  into  Turtle  Creek  with  many 
sharp  angles  and  a  very  steep  gradient.  A  new  hillside  street 
descending  the  west  side  of  the  hill,  rounding  the  nose  thereof, 
and  thence  extending  northward  down  to  the  valley  level  at  Turtle 
Creek,  is  not  an  impossible  solution  of  the  present  difficulties. 

45.  Greensburg  Pike  South  of  Turtle  Cr^^^.— South  of  Turtle 
Creek  the  Greensburg  Pike  again  ascends  the  hill  on  a  pretty 
steep  gradient.  In  part  at  least  this  gradient  can  be  improved  by 
making  the  route  somewhat  more  circuitous. 

46.  Streets  Run.— From  the  Glenwood  bridge  one  thorough- 
fare, destined  to  be  of  importance,  follows  the  valley  of  Streets  Run 
to  Miller's  Grove,  branching  there  into  lines  feeding  Snowden, 
Jefferson  and  the  southern  portions  of  Baldwin  and  MifHin  town- 
ships. The  street  needs,  in  addition  to  widening,  some  re-align- 
ment and  regrading.  At  several  points  where  it  crosses  the  Run, 
the  fords  should  be  replaced  by  bridges. 

47.  Dravosburg  and  Mifflin  Township  Thoroughfares.— Going 
south  from  the  Glenwood  bridge  the  first  valley  branching  east- 
ward from  Streets  Run  leads  to  the  high  land  at  Lincoln  Place. 
Irwin  Street  is  the  present  thoroughfare  in  this  valley,  but  towards 
its  upper  end  it  becomes  rather  steep  for  main  thoroughfare  pur- 
poses. The  most  feasible  plan  to  reach  the  southern  highlands  of 
MifHin  township  and  to  connect  with  Dravosburg  and  thence  up 
the  Monongahela,  is  probably  to  follow  up  the  south  fork  of  the 
Irwin  Street  valley,  cHmbing  gradually  but  steadily  along  the  hill- 
side, and  reaching  the  high  land  above  the  head  of  Thompson 
Run.    From  this  point  branch  roads  can  tap  much  of  the  hilltop 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS  75 

land  of  the  township.  Extending  southeast  the  main  road  would 
cross  the  ridge  south  of  Thompson  Run,  and  descend  gradually 
along  the  south  side  of  the  ridge  to  Dravosburg  ;  there  it  would 
connect  with  lines  up  the  Monongahela  River. 

The  high  land  between  Streets  Run  and  Whitaker  Run  can 
probably  be  best  served  by  a  hillside  road  following  up  the  valley 
between  Homestead  and  West  Homestead. 

48.  Eighth  Avenue  Improvement. — The  Eighth  Avenue  exten- 
sion, from  Munhall  to  Duquesne,  has  for  the  most  part  a  satis- 
factory gradient  for  a  main  thoroughfare;  but  just  south  of  Green 
Spring  it  is  unnecessarily  steep.  The  road  can  easily  be  shifted  a 
little  down  the  hill,  and  the  climb  lengthened  enough  to  get  a  very 
easy  gradient. 

The  location  of  this  thoroughfare  high  on  a  precipitous  hill- 
side overlooking  the  river  and  the  enormous  industrial  plants  at 
Braddock  and  Bessemer,  vital  elements  in  the  development  of  the 
Pittsburgh  District,  presents  an  opportunity  for  scenic  value  which 
should  not  be  overlooked.  The  natural  beauty  of  the  hillside  and 
the  interesting  outlook  over  the  river  should  be  preserved. 

49.  Eighth  Avenue  "Branch  Westward. — The  best  way  to  reach 
the  high  land  west  and  northwest  of  Duquesne  is  from  the  Eighth 
Avenue  thoroughfare.  A  branch  could  easily  wind  up  the  hill  from 
the  vicinity  of  Kennywood  Park,  and  thence  cross  the  hilltops 
forming  a  main  east  and  west  thoroughfare. 

50.  Eighth  Avenue  Branch  to  Dravosburg.  —  From  the  next 
plateau  south  of  Kennywood  Park  a  branch  could  be  extended 
southwest  across  Thompson  Run  (on  a  viaduct)  and  along  the 
high  land  south  of  the  Run.  By  branches,  very  little  steeper  than 
the  main  road,  good  connections  can  be  secured  with  Duquesne 
and  Dravosburg. 

51.  Duquesne  Bridge. — The  bridge  from  Duquesne  to  McKees- 
port  has  cramped  and  dangerous  approaches  at  both  ends.  The 
northern  approach  should  be  widened  and  made  less  abrupt. 
The  southern  end  of  the  bridge  should  be  lifted  and  the  bridge 
extended  over  all  the  railroad  tracks. 

52.  California  Avenue  and  Brighton  T{oad  Extension.  —  Coming 
now  to  the  North  Side,  one  of  the  most  important  thorough- 
fare routes  runs  northwest  through  Bellevue,  Avalon,  Ben  Avon, 
Emsworth    and    down   the    Ohio    River    to    Sewickley,   Leetsdale 


76 


PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 


and  points  beyond.  California  Avenue  in  Allegheny,  Lincoln 
Avenue  in  Bellevue,  California  Avenue  again  in  Avalon,  then 
either  Brighton  Road  in  Ben  Avone,  and  the 
old  Beaver  Road  in  Emsworth,  or  the  route 
followed  by  the  street-car  line  through  these 
boroughs,  and  the  Beaver  Road  again 
beyond,  practically  comprise 
this  thoroughfare. 

Connecting  with  Stock- 
ton and  Marion  Avenues,  a 
street  should  be  cut  through 
West  Park,  North  Side,  ad- 
jacent to  the  east  side  of  the 
railroad  from  Ohio  Street,  to 
the  junction  of  Irwin  and 
North  Avenues.  Thence  a 
diagonal  should  be  cut 
through  to  the  corner  of 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  and 
Fremont  Street.  (Diagram 
No.  II.)  These  changes,  to- 
gether with  the  widening  of 
Fremont  Street  and  Washing- 
ton Avenue,  will  give  a  proper 
and  sufficient  outlet  (and  inlet)  for  both 
the  California  Avenue  and  the  Brighton 
Road  thoroughfares. 

California  Avenue  should  also  be  cut 
through,  adjacent  to  the  railroad,  from 
the  corner  of  Sedgwick  and  Kirkpatrick 
Streets  to  Wolf  Alley, 

53.  "Brighton  Road  Viaduct. — In  Ben 
Avon,  Brighton  Road  makes  a  steep 
and  circuitous  dip  into  the  Spruce  Run  valley.  This  may  be 
avoided  by  carrying  the  street  across  the  ravine  on  a  viaduct 
from  about  Park  Street  on  one  side  nearly  to  Dickson  Avenue 
on  the  other. 

54.  East  Street. — On  account  of  its  steepness,  and  the  difficulty 
of  improving  the  gradient,  Perrysville  Avenue  will  never  be  a  main 


Diagram  No.  11.  Connec- 
tion from  West  Paric,  north 
side  to  California  Avenue  and 
Brio;hton  Road. 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS  77 

thoroughfare  except  to  the  high  country  immediately  north  of  the 
down  town  North  Side.  East  Street,  therefore,  must  eventually 
become  the  principal  thoroughfare  leading  north.  Its  gradient  is 
easy  and  it  needs  only  widening.  Throughout  much  of  its  length 
(except  at  the  southern  end)  the  widening  can  now  be  done, 
mostly  on  the  east  side,  with  comparatively  little  expense  for  build- 
ing damage.  The  physical  widening,  however  is  most  urgently 
needed  from  Third  Street  to  Madison  Avenue,  where  the 
thoroughfare  is  only  40  feet  wide  and  is  closely  built  up. 

Spring  Garden  Avenue  is  a  thoroughfare;  but  as  practically 
all  the  territory  which  might  be  reached  thereby,  except  the 
narrow  valley  in  which  the  street  runs,  can  be  served  perfectly 
well  from  East  Street  and  from  other  lines,  the  expense  of  widen- 
ing Spring  Garden  Avenue  and  its  approaches  seems  scarcely 
justifiable. 

55.  Troy  Hill  Road. — Troy  Hill  Road  is  the  thoroughfare  to 
Troy  Hill  and  the  ridge  to  the  north  in  Reserve  township.  From 
Ohio  Street  up  to  the  plateau  level  it  is  quite  steep,  about  8  per 
cent.  The  only  feasible  improvement  is  to  run  a  new  hillside 
street  from  Vinial  Street  at  Wooster  around  the  west  nose  of  the 
hill  and  up  the  north  side  to  Lowry  at  Gardener  Street.  The 
gradient  can  thus  be  reduced  to  about  5  per  cent.  But  because  of 
the  somewhat  limited  area  to  be  served  by  this  thoroughfare,  and 
the  considerable  expense  of  constructing  such  a  road,  this  im- 
provement is  not  urged  as  of  special  importance. 

56.  Lowry^s  Lane. — From  Ravine  Street  north  to  the  county 
road,  Lowry's  Lane,  a  link  in  the  Troy  Hill  Road  thoroughfare, 
is  very  steep  (about  10  per  cent).  From  the  foot  of  the  hill  a 
street  can  easily  be  run  around  the  west  side  of  the  hill,  reaching 
the  county  road  at  its  southern  end.  By  this  short  detour  the 
gradient  will  be  reduced  at  least  one  half.  It  is  understood  that 
the  County  has  already  started  an  improvement  of  this  nature. 

57.  East  Ohio  Street. — East  Ohio  Street  with  its  extensions — 
Butler  Street,  Main  Street,  Freeport  Street  and  the  Freeport 
Road — forms  the  only  thoroughfare  from  the  North  Side  through 
Millvale,  Etna,  Sharpsburg  and  Aspinwall  up  the  Allegheny  River. 
Most  of  the  way  from  Troy  Hill  Road  to  Etna,  the  street  is  in 
sore  need  of  widening  and  paving.  Where  it  is  adjacent  to  the 
railroad  one  sidewalk  can  be  omitted  and  that  much  width  saved. 


78  PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

At  Millvale  the  grade  must  be  raised  to  meet  a  new  approach 
over  the  railroad  to  the  Forty-third  Street  bridge.    (Section  6.) 

58.  Millvale  Thoroughfare. — Girty  Run  valley,  at  the  mouth  of 
which  is  Millvale,  must  inevitably  be  the  route  of  the  trunk  line  for 
a  most  important  northern  thoroughfare  system.  Thoroughfares 
following  Girty  Run  and  its  numerous  branches  can  reach  West- 
view,  Perrysville  and  all  parts  of  Ross  and  McCandless  townships 
and  points  north,  on  reasonable  gradients. 

From  the  mouth  of  the  valley  up  to  Evergreen,  the  present 
thoroughfare,  comprising  Grant  Street,  North  Avenue,  Klopfer 
Street,  and  the  Evergreen  Hamlet  Road,  is  narrow  and  in  some 
cases  very  crooked,  and  is  more  or  less  closely  lined  with  build- 
ings. Improvements  on  this  line  have  not  been  studied  in  detail 
but  much  widening  and  some  re-alignment  is  urgently  needed. 
Probably  the  widening  of  Grant  Street  will  be  more  satisfactory 
than  paralleling  it  with  a  new  street. 

59.  Etna  Improvement.  — Etna  is  at  the  mouth  of  the  Pine 
Creek  valley,  the  route  of  another  very  important  thoroughfare 
system.  Butler  Pike,  the  Middle  Road,  Kittanning  Pike  and  the 
three  valley  roads  following  Pine  Creek  and  the  two  Little  Pine 
Creeks,  reaching  all  available  country  to  the  north  on  easy 
gradients,  converge  at  Etna. 

To  avoid  the  bottle  neck  at  the  Spang-Chalfant  mills  a  new 
street  should  be  run  west  of  the  mills  from  Bridge  and  Butler 
Streets  over  the  creek  and  the  railroad,  joining  Butler  Street  again 
a  little  west  of  the  Kittanning  Pike.  A  branch  should  descend 
from  this  overhead  street  westerly  to  the  street  which  parallels  the 
railroad  tracks  on  the  south  and  connects  directly  with  the  Butler 
Pike  and  the  line  up  Little  Pine  Creek  west. 

Further  improvements  on  these  thoroughfares  have  not  been 
studied  in  detail,  but  numerous  widenings  and  re-alignments  are 
needed,  especially  in  the  Pine  Creek  thoroughfare. 

60.  Sycamore  Street  Grade  Crossing  and  Bridge  Street  Improve- 
ment.— Bridge,  Freeport  and  Main  Streets  should  be  lifted  over 
the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  tracks  at  Sycamore  Street.  Bridge  Street 
had  best  be  kept  up,  probably  on  a  viaduct,  clear  to  the  Sharps- 
burg  bridge.  The  South  Main  Street  approach  to  this  bridge 
will  thus  be  cut  off,  but  another  eastern  approach  will  be  pro- 
vided.   (Section  61   below.) 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS  79 

61.  Allegheny  River  Boulevard. — From  the  Sharpsburg  bridge 
up  the  river  to  Hoboken  and  possibly  to  Montrose,  a  first  rate 
opportunity  is  presented  for  a  riverside  thoroughfare  or  boule- 
vard. Such  a  line  will  have  rare  scenic  value  and  will  also  take 
much  trafiic  from  Main  Street  and  the  Freeport  Road.  It  is 
understood  that  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  owns  all  the  land  from 
the  Sharpsburg  bridge  to  Aspinwall  between  the  river  and  Main 
Street,  but  as  no  railroad  development  has  yet  taken  place  it 
seems  not  unlikely  that  sufficient  land  can  be  obtained  next  the 
river  for  the  boulevard. 

At  its  western  end  this  new  street  would  connect  by  a  viaduct 
directly  with  the  Sharpsburg  bridge. 

62.  Main  Street  Grade  Crossing. — The  railroad  grade  crossing 
on  Main  Street  (Sharpsburg),  near  North  Canal  Street,  is  pecu- 
liarly dangerous  because  the  sudden  angles  in  the  street  interrupt 
all  view  of  the  crossing  until  one  is  almost  upon  the  tracks.  No 
better  way  of  separating  the  grades  appears  than  to  raise  Main 
Street  and  carry  it  over  the  railroad.  The  railroad  grade  might 
be  lowered  somewhat  but  probably  not  enough  to  materially 
reduce  the  grade  damages  for  filling  on  Main  Street. 

A  connection  should  be  made  from  the  bend  just  east  of 
this  crossing  out  to  the  riverside  boulevard  proposed  above. 
(Section  61.) 

63.  Squaw  Run  Thoroughfare.— North  from  Claremont  is  the 
valley  of  Squaw  Run  with  its  branch  Stonycamp  Run.  The  thor- 
oughfare in  this  valley  should  be  extended  south  to  the  Freeport 
Road  and  the  proposed  riverside  boulevard.    (Section  61.) 

64.  Carson  Street.— South  of  the  Ohio  and  Monongahela 
Rivers,  Carson  Street  is  a  continuous  thoroughfare  from  Ormsby, 
on  the  east,  to  McKees  Rocks  and  points  down  the  Ohio  River,  on 
the  west.  All  thoroughfare  lines  from  the  south  and  west  feed 
into  Carson  Street  and  are  thence  distributed  to  the  bridges  lead- 
ing into  the  city  proper.  This  street  is  of  varying  width,  nowhere 
(except  for  ten  blocks  east  of  South  Seventeenth  Street)  more 
than  50  feet  and  often  much  less. 

(a)  From  Brownsville  Avenue  to  South  Seventh  Street  the 
vehicle  capacity  of  the  street  can  be  somewhat  increased  by 
removing  the  south  sidewalk  which  is  next  to  the  railroad.  This 
improvement,  however,  would   not  obviate  the  need   for  a  general 


8o         PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

widening  of  the  whole  street.  The  gradient  from  South  First  to 
South  Fourth  Street  should  be  reduced  by  filling  at  the  former 
end  and  cutting  slightly  at  the  latter. 

(b)  From  the  Point  bridge  to  Main  Street  (West  End)  West 
Carson  Street  is  most  in  need  of  improvement  and  is  at  the  same 
time  most  difficult  to  improve.  Though  much  study  has  been  put 
upon  this  problem,  no  plan  has  been  hit  upon  less  expensive  or 
less  difficult  of  accomplishment  than  a  generous  widening  accom- 
panied by  slight  re-alignment.  By  widening  entirely  on  the  south 
side  most  of  the  property  between  the  street  and  the  Panhandle 
Railroad  would  be  taken  and  what  is  left  could  be  used  for  ware- 
houses, coal  pockets  and  the  like.  The  manufacturing  property 
north  of  Carson  Street  would  thus  be  undisturbed. 

{c)  From  the  West  End  to  Corliss  Street,  Carson  Street  is 
confined  between  two  railroads.  As  there  is  no  abutting  property 
available  for  buildings,  one  sidewalk  is  sufficient  and  that  could  be 
reduced  to  a  minimum  width  of  8  or  lo  feet.  Furthermore,  as 
the  street  is  for  the  most  part  well  above  the  Pittsburgh  and  Lake 
Erie  tracks  the  sidewalk  might  be  bracketed  out  over  the  tracks, 
thus  leaving  a  clear  roadway  of  at  least  48  feet. 

{d)  From  Corliss  Street  to  McKees  Rocks,  West  Carson 
Street  can  readily  be  widened  on  the  southwest  side.  One  sidewalk 
will  still  be  sufficient. 

65.  Chartiers  Avenue  Grade  Crossing. — Chartiers  and  Island 
Avenues  are  the  main  connections  from  West  Carson  Street 
through  McKees  Rocks.  Close  to  the  junction  of  these  streets, 
where  the  Pittsburgh,  Chartiers  &  Youghiogheny  Railroad  crosses 
Chartiers  Avenue  at  grade,  the  street  should  be  raised  and  the 
tracks  somewhat  lowered  to  separate  the  grades. 

66.  JJ^ind  Gap  Road.— The  Wind  Gap  Road  is  the  present 
thoroughfare  from  McKees  Rocks  to  Ingram  and  Crafton.  The 
connection  with  Chartiers  Avenue  should  be  improved  by  carrying 
the  street  on  a  viaduct  over  the  creek  and  both  the  railroads  in 
the  valley,  and  then  cutting  an  approach  through,  running  about 
north,  from  Caughey  Street  to  Chartiers  Avenue, 

67.  Corliss  Street. — With  the  improvement  of  West  Carson 
Street,  its  connection  with  Corliss  Street  becomes  important. 
Corliss  Street  should  be  carried  underneath  both  the  Panhandle 
and  the   Pittsburgh,   Chartiers    &  Youghiogheny  tracks  to  West 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS  8i 

Carson  Street.  Chartiers  Avenue  and  Corliss  Street  will  thus  form 
a  short  line  of  fair  gradient  to  the  high  portions  of  Sheraden  and 
Esplen.* 

68.  Crafton  Hillside  Thoroughfare. — From  Main  Street  (West 
End)  the  Noblestown  Road  is  a  main  thoroughfare  on  reasonable 
gradients  to  Carnegie  and  points  south  and  east.  From  the  sharp 
turn  near  Stratford  Avenue  (Chartiers  township)  a  main  branch 
into  Crafton  should  follow  the  present  street  railway  line.  On  the 
steep  hillside  it  should  be  constructed  as  a  three-level  street,  cars 
in  the  middle  and  a  roadway  on  either  side. 

69.  Crafton-Carnegie  Connection. — There  is  no  direct  connecting 
highway  between  Crafton  and  Carnegie.  A  street  should  be 
constructed  from  Ridge  Avenue  to  Idlewood  Avenue  along  the 
street  car  line  just  north  of  the  Panhandle  Railroad. 

70.  Washington  T{oad. — Washington  Road  through  Greentree 
borough  is  an  important  hilltop  thoroughfare  feeding  into  West 
Carson  Street  through  the  West  End.  From  the  hilltop  down  to 
Woodville  Avenue  it  is  undesirably  steep.  A  new  road  should  be 
built  from  the  top  of  the  hill  running  northward  down  the  west 
bank  of  the  valley,  rounding  the  nose  of  the  hill  and  running  west 
about  a  thousand  feet,  then  crossing  the  ravine  on  a  viaduct  and 
joining  the  Noblestown  Road  just  west  of  West  End  Park.  The 
gradient  on  such  a  road  would  not  be  over  five  per  cent. 

71.  Sawmill  Run  Thoroughfare. —  Sawmill  Run  valley  offers  a 
splendid  opportunity  for  a  connecting  and  radial  thoroughfare 
from  the  West  End  to  Bell  Tavern  and  thence  south  to  Fairhaven, 
Castle  Shannon,  and  points  beyond  in  Bethel,  Snowden  and 
Jefferson  townships.  Branching  to  the  southwest  would  be  at 
least  two  important  valley  thoroughfares,  the  Banksville  and  West 
Liberty  Roads.  Woodville  Avenue,  from  the  West  End  through 
Shalerville,  is  the  start  of  such  a  thoroughfare.  It  should  be 
improved  and  extended  up  the  valley,  past  the  Bell  Tavern,  to 
Oak  Station  and  the  Library  Road.  Such  a  thoroughfare  should 
be  designed  as  part  of  a  boulevard  system.! 

The  proposed  traffic  tunnel  to  the  South  Hills  will  come  out 
in  the  valley  between  Mt.  Washington  and  Beltzhoover,  probably 
a  little  east  of  the  south  portal  of  the  present  street  car  tunnel. 
To  serve  its  best  purpose  this  traffic  tunnel  must  have  thorough- 

*This  improvement  is  provided  for  in  the  current  bond  issue. 
t  Part   IV,    Section   7,    page   119. 


82 


PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 


fare  connections  on  reasonable  gradients  to  all  available  land 
south  of  Mt.  Washington  and  Allentown  and  east  of  Little 
Sawmill  Run.  The  more  important  thoroughfare  extensions  from 
the  tunnel  are  noted  below,  Sections  72  to  75  inclusive. 

72,  (a)  ff^ashington  Avenue  Improvement. — Washington  Avenue 
forms  too  steep  a  line  up  to  the  tunnel  from  the  valley  thorough- 
fares—  the    West    Liberty    Road    and    the    Sawmill    Run    Road 


ALLENTOWN 


A  plan  showing  the  thoroughfare  extensions  from  the  proposed  South  Hills  tunnel. 
Figures  refer  to  the  descriptive  paragraphs  in  the  text 

proposed  above  (Section  71).  A  reasonable  gradient  can  be 
secured  by  raising  the  grade  of  the  West  Liberty  Road  north 
from  the  West  Side  Belt  railroad  bridge  to  Kaiser  Avenue,  thence 
running  a  bridge  north  across  the  valley,  then  climbing  gradually 
northward  along  the  hillside  and  joining  Washington  Avenue  just 
below  the  Castle  Shannon  railroad  bridge.  Above  this  point 
Washington  Avenue  should  be  regraded  by  cutting  at  the  top  of 
the  steep  portion,  thus  getting  an  easy  gradient  to  the  new  tunnel. 
(b)   Southern  Avenue    Connection. —  From    a    point    just    below 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS  83 

the  Castle  Shannon  railroad  bridge  a  branch  connection  should 
be  run  west  across  the  valley  to  Boggs  Avenue,  about  at  Min- 
singer  Street,  thus  connecting  the  new  tunnel  with  Boggs  and 
Southern  Avenues  leading  to  Mt.  Washington. 

73.  (a)  Beechview  Thoroughfare. — The  higher  lands  to  the 
south,  upon  which  most  of  the  future  development  will  take 
place,  can  best  be  reached  by  a  street  around  the  west  end  of 
the  Beltzhoover  ridge  at,  or  slightly  above,  the  level  of  the  Castle 
Shannon  railroad,  about  the  location  of  the  present  Boggstown 
Avenue.  From  a  point  two  or  three  hundred  feet  east  of  Sylvania 
Street  a  sloping  viaduct  should  be  run  southwest  up  over  the 
street  railway  bridge  and  the  West  Side  Belt  tracks  to  the  nose 
of  the  opposite  hill.  From  here  a  new  street  should  be  run  west 
climbing  gradually  along  the  north  slope  of  the  hill  to  the  high 
land  at  the  northern  end  of  Beechview.  An  extension  of  this  line 
should  then  be  made  from  Crane  Street  and  Center  Avenue 
southerly  along  the  west  side  of  the  Beechview  ridge  joining 
Seventh  Avenue  just  south  of  South  Sharon  Avenue.  Beechview 
and  the  West  Broadway  thoroughfare,  running  south  along  the 
ridge,  can  thus  be  reached  on  a  gradient  under  4  per  cent  instead 
of  6)4.  or  7  per  cent  along  the  present  street  car  right-of-way,  or 
considerably  more  than  that  on  the  present  streets.  The  viaduct 
from  Southern  Avenue  to  Price's  Hill,  proposed  in  the  recent  bond 
issue  program,  has  been  studied  with  some  care,  but  the  steep  gra- 
dients it  would  require  —  6  per  cent  or  over — to  reach  the  hilltop 
land  have  led  to  its  abandonment  in  favor  of  the  plan  just  proposed. 

{b)  West  Broadway  Extension. — West  Broadway  should  be  ex- 
tended along  the  present  street  car  route  from  Snyder  Street 
south  to  the  junction  of  the  Banksville  and  West  Liberty  Roads. 

(c)  Lang  Avenue  Connection. — Starting  again  from  the  southerly 
end  of  the  above  proposed  viaduct  over  Sawmill  Run,  a  street 
should  be  built  running  south  over  the  West  Liberty  road  and 
striking  the  opposite  hillside  at  or  just  above  Lang  Avenue. 
Southwest  from  here,  nearly  to  Summerhill  Street,  Lang  Avenue 
should  be  shifted  slightly  down  the  hillside  to  reduce  its  gradient 
from  about  12  to  4  or  5  per  cent. 

{d).  Sawmill  Run  Hillside  Thoroughfare.  —  Returning  now  to 
the  northerly  end  of  the  proposed  viaduct  over  Sawmill  Run,  the 
thoroughfare  from  Washington  Avenue  should  be  extended  south 


84         PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

along  the  Castle  Shannon  railroad  to  the  Library  Road  at  Oak 
Station.  The  road  should  be  built  on  the  uphill  side  of  the  tracks 
to  facilitate  running  branch  roads  to  the  high  country  east 
thereof.  If  the  Sawmill  Run  valley  shall  become  park  land*  this 
new  street  will  be  a  border  drive  with  a  commanding  location 
•overlooking  the  park. 

74.  Fairhaven  County  Road.—]\ist  south  of  Fairhaven  the 
county  road  climbs  the  hill  to  the  Brownsville  Road  on  a  10  per 
cent  gradient.  This  can  easily  be  reduced  one  half  by  shifting  the 
road  a  little  west,  down  the  hillside,  and  reaching  the  high  land 
twelve  hundred  feet  farther  south. 

75.  Carrick  Connection  from  the  South  Hills  r^z/wtV.  —  Perhaps 
the  most  important  district  to  be  reached,  via  the  proposed  South 
Hills  tunnel,  is  that  tapped  by  the  Brownsville  Road,  i.  e.  Mount 
Oliver,  Lower  Saint  Clair,  Carrick  and  most  of  Baldwin  township. 
To  serve  this  district  requires  a  thoroughfare  connection  past  the 
bad  gradients  of  the  Beltzhoover  ridge,  to  Brownsville  Road  at  or 
beyond  Charles  Street. 

There  appear  to  be  two  possible  routes  for  such  a  connection. 

The  shorter  is  as  follows ;  along  Washington  Avenue  east  to 
Curtin  Avenue,  thence  diagonally  southeast  to  Climax  Street, 
along  Climax  Street  widened  to  a  point  about  200  feet  east  of 
Allen  Street  and  thence  diagonally  southeast  and  through  a  short 
tunnel  under  the  ridge  to  the  corner  of  Charles  and  Amanda  Streets. 
Amanda  Street  connects  south  to  the  Brownsville  Road ;  and 
Charles  Street,  if  widened  straight  through  to  the  Brownsville 
Road,  would  furnish  a  reasonably  direct  connection  with  Arlington 
Avenue  leading  along  the  ridge  to  the  east.  This  route  could 
probably  be  brought  to  a  very  reasonable  gradient,  say  3%  per 
cent  as  a  maximum. 

The  other  route  is  by  a  new  street  rising  around  the  northerly 
end  of  the  Beltzhoover  ridge  and  connecting  with  Michigan 
Street.  The  latter  would  be  widened  and  regraded,  cutting 
through  the  two  narrow  ridges  over  which  it  now  humps  at  Gear- 
ing Street  and  Estella  Avenue.  These  streets  would  be  carried 
over  it  by  bridges  at  the  present  grade.  The  improved  Michigan 
Street  would  be  connected  with  Charles  Street ;  and  the  latter 
would  be  widened  and  improved  in  gradient,  with  another  separa- 

*Part  IV,   Section  7,   page  119. 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS  85 

tion  of  grades  at  Knox  Avenue  where  there  is  now  a  sharp  hump 
in  the  Charles  Street  profile.  Instead  of  following  Charles  Street 
through  to  a  right-angle  corner  at  Amanda,  the  thoroughfare 
might  curve  at  the  end  so  as  to  join  Amanda  Street  a  block  or 
two  farther  south.  This  route  is  at  least  two  thousand  feet  longer 
than  the  other,  but  if  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel  is  not  dropped  too 
low,  it  can  probably  be  brought  to  a  maximum  gradient  of  not 
over  3X  per  cent. 

In  the  absence  of  complete  and  accurate  information  as  to 
grades  and  distances  throughout  these  two  routes,  it  is  impossible 
to  say  which  is  to  be  preferred.  If,  upon  further  study  on  the 
basis  of  reliable  topographical  data,  it  should  develop  that  a 
materially  better  gradient  can  be  secured  by  the  longer  route,  that 
line  would  be  the  more  desirable.  But  if  the  saving  in  gradient 
should  prove  to  be  very  slight,  perhaps  not  more  than  a  third  or 
a  half  of  one  per  cent,  it  is  believed  that  the  shorter  route,  that  via 
CHmax  Street,  should  be  adopted. 

76.  Arlbigton  Avenue  and  JFashington  Avenue  Connection. — Arling- 
ton Avenue  is  the  direct  road  east  from  the  junction  of  Wash- 
ington Avenue  and  the  Brownsville  Road,  but  between  this  point 
and  South  Eighteenth  Street  it  has  two  bad  gradients,  7  per  cent 
and  over.  To  get  a  good  cross-town  connection  without  such 
gradients  and  at  the  same  time  to  give  better  access  to  the  Mount 
Oliver  incline,  Washington  Avenue  should  be  widened  east  from 
the  Knoxville  incline  to  Amanda  Street,*  and  thence  cut  through 
on  a  curve  to  the  corner  of  Angelo  and  Mount  Oliver  Streets. 
By  widening  Mount  Oliver  and  Freeland  Streets,  by  rounding  off 
the  east  corner  of  Amanda  and  Freeland  Streets  and  by  cutting 
back  the  southwest  corner  of  Freeland  and  South  Eighteenth 
Streets,  a  nearly  level,  though  somewhat  circuitous,  connection 
can  be  secured  between  Washington  Avenue  on  the  west  and 
Arlington  Avenue  on  the  east. 

77.  South  Eighteenth  Street. — Plans  have  been  proposed,  by  the 
Bureau  of  Surveys,  to  widen,  pave  and  otherwise  improve  South 
Eighteenth  Street  from  the  South  Side  up  the  hill  to  Arlington 
Avenue.  The  gradient,  which  is  now  about  7  per  cent,  cannot  be 
improved  without  very  radical  and  costly  changes  in  the  street 
location;  and  since  the  proposed  South  Hills  tunnel  will  reach,  on 
easy  gradients,  practically  all  the  hilltop  territory  now  served   by 

*  Improvement  to  this  point  is  proviiied  in  the  current  bond  issue. 


86 


PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 


South    Eighteenth    Street,    the    trouble    and    cost    of    materially 

reducing    the    South    Eighteenth    Street    gradient    seems    hardly 

justified. 

The  plans  of  the  Bureau  of  Surveys  propose  a  roadway  width 

of  40  feet  with  two  sidewalks  each   10  feet  wide   in   some   places 

and  in  others  7^2  feet.    This  means  a  widening  of  from  5  to  20 

feet.    As  this  entire  section    of    South   Eighteenth    Street   is  on   a 

hillside    mostly    steeper    than    one    in    three,    such   widening   will 

require  from  2  to  7  feet  of  additional  retaining  wall,  or  excessive 

^  ^,  ^.  ^  cutting    and    filling, 

w  «  «  «  . 

whicn    means    large 

damage  to  property 
in  the  vicinity.  Fur- 
thermore, the  ad- 
jacent hillsides  are 
so  steep  that  no 
extensive  develop- 
ment of  abutting 
property  is  likely  to 
take  place. 

I  n  consideration 
of  all  these  points 
it  is  urged  that'  a  width  of  not  less  than  45  feet  nor  more  than 
50  feet  be  adopted  in  the  improvement  plans.  This  will  give  a 
roadway  35  feet  and  one  sidewalk  10  feet  or  more  in  width. 

78.  Brownsville  Road. —  The  Brownsville  Road,  climbing  the 
hill  from  Carson  Street,  is  similarly  situated.  Any  improvements 
which  may  be  contemplated  therein  should  be  governed  by  the 
same  considerations  as  those  cited  above  in  connection  with  South 
Eighteenth  Street. 

79.  South  Tenth  Street.  —  From  the  south  end  of  the  Tenth 
Street  bridge  to  Muriel  Street,  South  Tenth  Street  is  cramped 
down  to  a  total  width  of  45  feet,  with  a  roadway  only  26^  feet 
wide,  because  of  a  freight  area  10  or  12  feet  wide  next  to  the 
Oliver  Iron  and  Steel  Company  building.  This  area  should  be 
covered  and  the  street  widened. 

80.  Twenty-Second  Street  Bridge  Approach — South  Side.  —  The 
approach  from  East  Carson  Street  to  the  Twenty-second  Street 
bridge  is  cramped  and  crooked.    The  corner  from  the  bridge  into 


Diagram  No.  13.    Twenty -second  Street  bridge 
approach — South   Side 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS  87 

Wharton  Street  should  be  rounded  back  and  an  additional 
approach  should  be  run  along  the  east  side  of  the  playground. 
Some  additional  playground  space  can  be  secured  by  closing 
Sidney  Street,  between  South  Twenty-second  Street  and  South 
Twenty-third  Street,  except  for  pedestrians.  (Diagram  No.  12.) 
Several  other  changes  in  the  outlying  thoroughfares  are 
marked  in  red  on  the  accompanying  plan  but  are  not  specifically 
noted  in  this  report.  They  are  suggested  changes  to  improve 
certain  steep  gradients  but  have  not  been  thoroughly  studied  on 
the  ground. 


PITTSBURGH— MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

SUBJECT   INDEX   TO   OUTLYING   THOROUGHFARE 
IMPROVEMENTS 

Section  Page 

Allegheny  River  Boulevard 6i  79 

Ardmore  Thoroughfare 42  73 

Arlington  Avenue  and  Washington  Avenue  Connection  ...  76  85 

Aspinwall  Bridge 10  59 

Batavia  Street 33  71 

Bates  Run  Connection 15  63 

Baum  Street  Improvement 20  65 

Beechview  Thoroughfare 73^  83 

Beechwood  Boulevard  Connection 28  68 

Beechwood  Boulevard  Re-alignment 31  70 

Bell  Avenue  Extension 41  73 

Boundary  Street  Improvement 29  69 

Braddock  Avenue — Northerly  End 36  72 

Braddock  Avenue  Viaduct 37  72 

Brighton  Road  Viaduct 53  76 

Brownsville  Road 78  86 

Butler  Street  Improvement 8  59 

California  Avenue  and  Brighton  Road  Extension 52  75 

Carrick  Connection  from  the  South  Hills  Tunnel 75  84 

Carson  Street 64  79 

Center  Avenue  Improvement 21  65 

Chartiers  Avenue  Grade  Crossing 65  80 

Corliss  Street 67  80 

Crafton-Carnegie  Connection 69  81 

Crafton  Hillside  Thoroughfare 68  81 

Dravosburg  and  Mifflin  Township  Thoroughfare 47  74 

Duquesne  Bridge 51  75 

East  Ohio  Street 57  77 

East  Street 54  76 

Eighth  Avenue  Branch  to  Dravosburg 50  75 

Eighth  Avenue  Branch  Westward 49  75 

Eighth  Avenue  Improvement 48  75 

Ellsworth  Avenue  Extension 13  62 

Etna  Improvement 59  78 

Fairhaven  County  Road 74  84 

Fifth  Avenue — Center  Avenue  Connection  at  Soho 12  61 

Forbes  Street   Extension 39  72 

Forbes  Street — Fifth  Avenue  Connection  at  Soho 11  60 

Forty-third  Street  Bridge 6  59 

Glenwood  Bridge 19  64 

Greenfield  and  Squirrel  Hill   Extension 17  64 

Greenfield  Avenue  Connection 16  64 

Greensburg  Pike 44  74 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS  89 

Section  Page 

Greensburg  Pike  South  of  Turtle  Creek 4^  7^ 

Haights  Run  Bridge g  ^g 

Haights  Run  Thoroughfare 25  67 

Hamilton  Avenue  Extension 22  65 

Hazelwood  Grade  Crossing 18  64 

Lang  Avenue  Connection 73^  S3 

Larimer  Avenue  Extension 24  66 

Lowry's  Lane 56  77 

Main  Street  Grade  Crossing 62  79 

Meadow  Street  Connections 26  68 

Millvale  Thoroughfare 58  78 

Monongahela  Hillside  Thoroughfare 14  62 

Murray  Avenue  Extension      30  69 

Negley  Run  Boulevard 23  66 

Penn-Liberty  Connection  at  Howley  Street 5  58 

Rankin  Improvement 38  72 

Sassafras  Street  Outlet 4  58 

Sawmill  Run  Hillside  Thoroughfare 73^  83 

Sawmill  Run  Thoroughfare 71  81 

Second  Avenue  Extension 32  70 

Sharpsburg  Bridge 7  59 

Sixteenth  Street  Bridge i  56 

South  Eighteenth  Street 77  85 

Southern  Avenue  Connection 72^  82 

South  Tenth  Street 79  86 

Squaw  Run  Thoroughfare 63  79 

Stanton  Avenue  Connection  to  the  Lincoln  District 27  68 

Streets  Run 46  74 

Sycamore  Street  Grade  Crossing  and  Bridge  Street  Improvement  60  78 

Thirty-third  Street  Improvement 3  57 

Troy  Hill  Road 55  77 

Twenty-eighth  Street  Grade  Crossings 2  57 

Twenty-second  Street  Bridge  Approach — South  Side    ....  80  86 

Washington  Avenue  Improvement 72a  82 

Washington  Road 70  81 

West  Broadway  Extension 73^  83 

Wilkinsburg-Edgewood  Connection 35  71 

Wilkinsburg  Grade  Crossings 34  yi 

Wilkins  Township  Thoroughfares 43  73 

Wind  Gap  Road 66  80 

Woodstock  Avenue  Extension 40  73 


90         PITTSBURGH-MAIN    THOROUGHFARES 

NUMBER   INDEX   TO   OUTLYING   THOROUGHFARE 
IMPROVEMENTS 

Section  ^^^'^ 

1  Sixteenth  Street  Bridge 5^ 

2  Twenty-eighth  Street  Grade  Crossings 57 

3  Thirty-third  Street  Improvement 57 

4  Sassafras  Street  Outlet 5^ 

5  Penn-Liberty  Connection  at  Hovvley  Street 5^ 

6  Forty-third  Street  Bridge 59 

7  Sharpsburg  Bridge 59 

8  Butler  Street  Improvement 59 

9  Haights  Run  Bridge 59 

10  Aspinwall  Bridge 59 

11  Forbes  Street — Fifth  Avenue  Connection  at  Soho 6o 

12  Fifth  Avenue — Center  Avenue  Connection  at  Soho 6i 

13  Ellsworth  Avenue  Extension 62 

14  Monongahela  Hillside  Thoroughfare 62 

15  Bates  Run  Connection 03 

16  Greenfield  Avenue  Connection 64 

17  Greenfield  and  Squirrel  Hill  Extension 64 

18  Hazelwood  Grade  Crossing      64 

19  Glenwood  Bridge 0+ 

20  Baum  Street  Improvement 65 

21  Center  Avenue  Improvement      65 

22  Hamilton  Avenue  Extension 65 

23  Negley  Run  Boulevard 00 

24  Larimer  Avenue  Extension 66 

25  Haights  Run  Thoroughfare 67 

26  Meadow  Street  Connections 68 

27  Stanton  Avenue  Connection  to  the  Lincoln  District 68 

28  Beechwood  Boulevard  Connection 68 

29  Boundary  Street  Improvement 69 

30  Murray  Avenue  Extension 69 

31  Beechwood  Boulevard  Re-alignment 70 

32  Second  Avenue  Extension 7° 

33  Batavia  Street 7i 

34  Wilkinsburg  Grade  Crossings 7^ 

35  Wilkinsburg-Edgewood  Connection 7^ 

36  Braddock  Avenue— Northerly  End 7^ 

37  Braddock  Avenue  Viaduct 7^ 

38  Rankin  Improvement 7^ 

39  Forbes  Street  Extension 7^ 

40  Woodstock  Avenue  Extension      73 

41  Bell  Avenue  Extension 11 

42  Ardmore  Thoroughfare      73 

43  Wilkins  Township  Thoroughfares 73 


OUTLYING    IMPROVEMENTS  91 

Section  P^ge 

44  Greensburg  Pike 7^ 

45  Greensburg  Pike  South  of  Turtle  Creek 74 

46  Streets  Run 7^ 

47  Dravosburg  and  Mifflin  Township  Thoroughfare 74 

48  Eighth  Avenue  Improvement 75 

49  Eighth  Avenue  Branch  Westward 75 

50  Eighth  Avenue  Branch  to  Dravosburg 7- 

51  Duquesne  Bridge 75 

52  California  Avenue  and   Brighton  Road  Extension 75 

53  Brighton  Road  Viaduct 76 

54  East  Street 76 

55  Troy  Hill  Road 77 

56  Lowry's  Lane      77 

57  East  Ohio  Street 77 

58  Millvale  Thoroughfare 78 

59  Etna  Improvement 78 

60  Sycamore  Street  Grade  Crossing  and  Bridge  Street  Improvement    .    .  78 

61  Allegheny  River  Boulevard 79 

62  Main  Street  Grade  Crossing 79 

63  Squaw  Run  Thoroughfare 79 

64  Carson  Street 79 

65  Chartiers  Avenue  Grade  Crossing 80 

66  Wind  Gap  Road 80 

67  Corliss  Street 80 

68  Crafton  Hillside  Thoroughfare 81 

69  Crafton-Carnegie  Connection 81 

70  Washington  Road 81 

71  Sawmill  Run  Thoroughfare 81 

72a  Washington  Avenue  Improvement 82 

72/5'  Southern  Avenue  Connection 82 

73a  Beechview  Thoroughfare 83 

73^  West  Broadway  Extension 83 

73c  Lang  Avenue  Connection 83 

73^  Sawmill  Run  Hillside  Thoroughfare 83 

74  Fairhaven  County  Road 84 

75  Carrick  Connection  from  the  South  Hills  Tunnel 84 

76  Arlington  Avenue   and  Washington  Avenue   Connection 85 

77  South  Eighteenth  Street 85 

78  Brownsville  Road 86 

79  South  Tenth  Street 86 

-80     Twenty-second  Street  Bridge  Approach — South  Side 86 


LOCATION  MAP  FOR 
80  IMPROVEMENTS 
IN  THE  OUTLYING 
THOROUGHFARES 

(ATTACHED  OPPOSITE  THIS  PAGE  92) 


PART  III 
Surveys  and  a  City   Vlan 

No  CITY  of  equal  size  in  America,  or  perhaps  in  the 
world,  is  compelled  to  adapt  its  growth  to  such  a  diffi- 
cult complication  of  high  ridges,  deep  valleys,  and  pre- 
cipitous slopes,  as  Pittsburgh.  By  consequence  no  other  city  has 
such  imperative  need  of  accurate  and  comprehen- 
Needforlu^eys  ^ive  surveys,  as  a  basis  for  the  layout  of  streets, 
sewers,  and  all  public  works,  for  the  purpose  of 
avoiding  the  extravagant  mistakes,  misfits,  and  reconstructions 
that  are  bound  to  result  from  groping,  piecemeal  work  done 
amidst  such  obstacles. 

New  York,  Baltimore,  Washington  and  other  American  cities, 
where  the  need  is  far  less  crying  than  in  Pittsburgh,  have  awak- 
ened to  the  importance  of  modern,  accurate  and  comprehensive 
topographical  maps  as  a  basis  /or  the  intelligent  and  economical 
planning  of  public  improvements,  and  have  provided  themselves 
therewith.  But  Pittsburgh,  having  less  excuse  for  the  omission 
and  paying  a  heavier  penalty  for  the  blunders  to  which  it  gives 
rise,  lags  in  the  same  class  with  too  many  unprogressive  cities  in 
this  country  where  the  official  surveys  are  merely  incomplete  and 
casual  records  of  streets,  properties  and  public  works,  gradually 
accumulated  through  a  long  series  of  years.  These  records  con- 
sist, for  the  most  part,  of  independent  piecemeal  surveys  of  all 
degrees  of  accuracy  and  inaccuracy,  made  for  all  sorts  of  purposes, 
and  of  compilations  and  transcripts  of  these  piecemeal  records 
patched  together  in  attempts  to  reconcile  irreconcilable  data. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  give  a  long  list  of  examples  of  the  incom- 
pleteness and  the  inaccuracy  of  much  of  the  old  data  of  which  the 
Bureau  of  Surveys  is  the  official  repository  in  Pittsburgh.  Every 
surveyor  and  engineer  in  Pittsburgh  with  whom  I  have  talked, 
whose  work  has  given  him  occasion  to  use  this  data,  is  familiar  with 
the  conditions  ;  with  the  fact  that  the  tapes  used  in  the  original 
surveys    of  dififerent   parts  of  the  city  differed  in  length  and   that 


94     PITTSBURGH— SURVEYS    AND   A   CITY    PLAN 

the  errors  were  never  compensated,  so  that  today,  measurements 
in  different  parts  of  the  city  have  to  be  made  with  special  tapes 
of  particular  degrees  of  inaccuracy  in  order  to  conform  to  the 
records;  with  the  fact  that  independent  bench  marks  are  used  in 
different  parts  of  the  city  and  that  discrepancies  of  several  feet,, 
and  sometimes  of  unknown  amount,  in  elevation  occur  in  the 
records  of  adjacent  or  intersecting  streets  ;  with  the  fact  that  an 
extraordinarily  large  proportion  of  the  streets  are  not  marked  by 
any  permanent  monuments,  and  that  there  is  no  adequate  system 
for  protecting  the  monuments  that  do  exist,  so  that  the  City  often 
has  no  sure  recourse  against  abutting  owners  who  have  encroached 
upon  a  street ;  and  finally,  that  no  general  official  surveys  whatever 
exist  of  the  complicated  topography  of  the  undeveloped  areas. 
And  yet  through  these  undeveloped  areas,  streets  and  sewers  and 
other  public  works  are  almost  daily  being  extended  without  know- 
ledge of  what  lies  beyond,  although  from  the  back  regions  soon 
to  be  developed,  somehow^  sometime,  outlets  must  be  provided. 

The  city  charter  places  upon  the  Bureau  of  Surveys  the  oner- 
ous and  important  duty  of  reporting  favorably  or  unfavorably  to 
Councils  upon  the  plan  of  every  new  street  proposed  to  be  laid 
out  by  any  one  whomsoever  within  the  city;  yet  the  Bureau,  pre- 
sumably through  lack  of  funds,  has  never  had  the  data  in  hand 
upon  which  alone  such  a  report  could  be  intelligently  based. 

No  criticism  of  the  present  Bureau,  or  indeed  of  its  prede- 
cessors, is  intended  in  these  remarks.  The  blame  falls  upon  the 
whole  system  of  penny-wise,  pound-foolish,  hand-to-mouth  pro- 
cedure in  regard  to  city  surveys  that  has  been  characteristic  of  a 
large  proportion  of  American  cities  in  the  past,  and  of  Pittsburgh 
with  the  rest.  It  is  earnestly  recommended  that  Pittsburgh  should 
take  example  from  the  cities  of  Europe  and  from  such  American 
cities  as  New  York,  Baltimore  and  Washington.  And  because  its 
peculiar  topography  is  bound  to  make  the  evil  results  of  unpro- 
gressive  medieval  methods  more  serious  than  in  other  cities,  it 
should  take  the  pains  to  surpass,  rather  than  to  lag  far  behind, 
in    this    respect. 

In    outline    the    objects    to    be    secured    are   these : 
Objects  ToBe,v.  ^       ^  irr 

g         ,  \a)  An    accurate    framework    or    reference    pomts 

needs  to  be  established,  including  :     i.  The  gradual 

systematic  setting    of    permanent    street    monuments    throughout 


TECHNICAL    PROCEDURE 


95 


the  city  to  serve  as  reference  points  for  the  definite  determination 
of  street  locations  and  for  all  public  and  private  local  surveys. 
2.  The  accurate  determination  of  the  locations  and  elevations  of 
these  and  other  monuments  and  bench  marks  in  reference  to  a 
single  general  system  of  coordinates  and  in  reference  to  the 
United  States  Government  bench.  3.  As  a  means  of  accomplish- 
ing these  ends,  an  accurate  geodetic  triangulation  of  the  district, 
supplemented  by  the  necessary  precise  traverse  work  and  precise 
leveling,  all  fully  checked  and  compensated  for  errors. 

(^)  The  existing  local  surveys  and  records  need  to  be  tied 
into  the  accurate  framework  thus  established,  and  in  cases  which 
show  deficiencies  or  discrepancies  beyond  a  reasonable  and  care- 
fully defined  standard  of  accuracy,  they  need  to  be  gradually,  in 
due  turn,  re-surveyed  and  re-plotted. 

(c)  Complete  topographical  maps,  based  upon  the  framework 
first  described,  should  be  prepared  upon  some  uniform  system 
beginning  in  those  sections  where  public  works  are  immediately 
contemplated  and  gradually  extended  so  as  to  cover  the  whole 
area  into  which  the  city's  growth  is  likely  to  spread. 

In  the  facts  which  would  be  gathered  in  the  above  process, 

and  only  in  such  facts,  can  a  safe  basis  be  found  for  plans  that 

will    provide    the    most  economical   and   effective  layout   of   new 

streets,  sewers,  parks,  water  system — in  short  for  a  city  plan  that 

will  minimize  the  total  draft  on  the  taxpayers  for  public  works 

and  give  the  maximum  results  for  money  expended. 

The  actual  steps  of  technical  procedure  called  for, 
Technica.1  ...  . 

p       ,  in    addition    to    the   present    routine  work   of  the 

Bureau  of  Surveys,  appear  to  be  about  as  listed 
below.  I  omit  at  this  point  any  consideration  of  the  method 
of  deciding  on  the  plans  for  future  improvements — the  city  plan- 
ning proper,  which  would  be  based  on  the  surveys — or  of  the 
procedure  for  enforcing  any  part  of  a  city  plan  when  adopted, 
and  consider  only  the  work  of  recording  and  miapping. 

The  steps  that  are  mentioned  last  are  more  or  less  dependent 
upon  those  mentioned  first,  for  any  given  area  of  the  city,  but 
the  several  steps  of  the  work  would  be  carried  on  more  or  less 
simultaneously,  and  some  of  the  results  would  become  available 
for  use  at  once.  i.  The  establishment  of  reference  points  by 
triangulation  and  precise  traversing  and  leveling  throughout  the 


96     PITTSBURGH— SURVEYS   AND    A    CITY   PLAN 

district,  and  the  reduction  of  these  points  to  a  general  coordinate 
system.  2.  The  surveying,  in  relation  to  the  new  coordinate 
system,  of  existing  street  monuments  and  reference  points,  and  of 
existing  buildings,  fences,  bound-stones,  and  other  evidences  of 
ownership;  and  the  preparation  of  general  topographical  maps. 
3.  The  determination  of  the  correct  location  of  the  legal  boun- 
daries of  streets  and  public  properties,  and  the  translation  of 
the  old  descriptions,  running  lines,  etc.,  into  terms  of  correct 
descriptions  related  to  the  new  coordinate  system.  4.  The  verifi- 
cation or  correction  of  the  legally  established  street  profiles  in 
terms  consistent  with  the  real  distances  and  levels.  5.  The  setting 
of  additional  street  monuments.  6.  The  draughting  and  pub- 
lication   of   maps. 

The  maps  might  ultimately  include  the  following 
features,  every  one  of  which  is  to  be  found  in  the 
maps  of  one  or  another  of  the  progressive  cities  of  this  country 
and  Europe,  and  many  of  them  in  all. 

(a)  A  general  one-sheet  map  of  the  city  and  vicinity,  showing 
the  streets,  the  boundaries  of  civil  divisions,  the  coordinate 
system,  and  the  locations  of  primary  reference  points  and  bench 
marks.    This  will  serve  as  an  index  to  the  maps  on  a  larger  scale. 

(b)  A  general  topographical  map  in  sections,  to  be  published 
by  lithography,  one  sheet  at  a  time  as  completed,  on  a  scale 
of  (say)  200  feet  to  the  inch,  showing  all  existing  streets  and 
roads,  buildings,  property  lines,  surface  grades  (by  contours  and 
points)  and  other  topographical  features,  and  all  monuments  and 
benches.  This  might  be,  and  should  be,  so  arranged  that  new 
and  corrected  editions  of  individual  sheets  could  be  gotten  out  at 
reasonably  frequent  intervals  so  as  to  keep  it  permanently  up  to 
date.  Moreover  it  could  well  be  made  to  serve  all  the  purposes 
of  the  inaccurate  but  useful  real  estate  atlases  now  gotten  out  by 
private  enterprise.  A  charge  of  (say)  twenty-five  cents  a  sheet 
would  cover  the  cost  of  printing,  and,  if  some  form  of  loose-leaf 
atlas  cover  were  gotten  out  into  which  new  editions  of  single  sheets 
could  be  inserted,  the  public  could  obtain,  at  no  extra  cost  to  the 
city,  and  for  a  price  about  equal  to  that  charged  for  the  ordinary 
real  estate  atlas,  a  much  more  useful  and  accurate  and  up-to-date 
volume.  Of  course  this  map  would  serve  all  the  purposes  of  the 
assessors'  maps  far  better  than  anything  they  have  now,  and,  if 


MAPS  97 

experience  in  other  cities  is  any  criterion,  would   lead  to  the  dis- 
covery of  a  good  deal  of  untaxed  property. 

To  accomplish  the  above  purposes  the  best  method  of  repro- 
duction would  probably  be  to  have  the  maps  engraved  on  alumi- 
num sheets,  from  which  transfers  can  be  quickly  and  cheaply 
made  at  any  time  to  a  lithographic  stone  for  printing.  Such  sheets 
can  be  readily  and  indefinitely  corrected. 

(c)  Record  sheets  at  a  much  larger  scale,  showing  all  the 
information  contained  on  the  small  scale  sheets  and  also  construc- 
tion details  relating  to  public  properties,  especially  streets,  such  as 
pipes,  sewers,  conduits,  etc.;  to  be  prepared  at  first  for  limited 
areas  only  but  gradually  extended. 

{d)  A  system  of  indexing  and  filing,  to  include,  to  keep  track 
of,  and  to  keep  up  to  date,  the  records  of  existing  physical  con- 
ditions in  areas  covered  by  the  surveys.  This  would  include  keep- 
ing track  of  the  legal  instruments  aflfecting  the  physical  condi- 
tions within  streets  and  other  public  properties,  or  aflfecting  the 
control  over  them  ;  such  as  deeds,  ordinances,  and  other  instru- 
ments relating  to  the  layout  and  grades  of  streets,  permits  and 
franchises  for  the  construction  or  maintenance  of  anything  within 
them,  executive  orders  for  new  constructions  or  changes,  and 
inspectors'  reports  of  new  constructions  and  changes  actually 
made.  As  a  part  of  this  indexing  and  correcting  system,  provi- 
sion could  readily  be  made  for  periodical  transmission  of  infor- 
mation as  to  changes  in  property  ownership  from  the  Assessors' 
Office  (originally  from  the  Registry  of  Deeds)  to  the  Bureau  of 
Surveys,  so  as  to  permit  keeping  the  record  maps  always  up  to 
date  and  accurate.  By  means  of  similar  transmission  of  records 
from  the  office  of  the  Building  Inspector,  the  record  maps  could 
be  kept  up  to  date  with  respect  to  new  buildings.  A  typewritten 
multigraph  notice  of  changes  and  corrections  from  all  sources, 
made  on  the  record  sheets,  could  be  mailed  monthly  to  all  the 
city  Bureaus  and  others  having  sets  of  prints,  and  at  longer 
intervals  new  and  corrected  prints  of  certain  sheets  would  be 
oflFered.  This  would  be  the  same  general  plan  that  is  followed  in 
regard  to  changes  and  corrections  on  the  charts  of  the  Coast 
Survey  and  the  official  Coast  Pilot  books,  where  the  Notices  to 
Mariners  are  issued  periodically  from  the  Hydrographic  Office, 
and  summed  up  at  longer  intervals  by  new  editions  of  the  several 


98     PITTSBURGH— SURVEYS    AND   A   CITY    PLAN 

volumes  and  of  the  various  charts  stamped  to  show  the  dates  to 
which  they  are  corrected. 

It  would  seem  advisable  to  put  a  first-class  man  of 
Managemen  broad  experience  and  ability  in  charge;  to  establish 

and  Cost  j---  j         ,r)  re  -j- 

a  new  division  under  the  rJureau  or  surveys,  coordi- 
nate with  the  existing  force,  which  is  dealing  with  the  current 
routine  work,  but  distinct  from  it;  and  to  go  at  the  work  with  an 
annual  appropriation  amounting,  after  the  first  six  months  or  so 
devoted  to  organization,  to  say  $50,000  a  year  until  the  arrears  of 
work  shall  have  been  cleaned  up. 

The  following  data  in  regard  to  the  topographical 
amp  e  aps  suj-yey  work  of  New  York  and  of  Baltimore  is  of 
considerable  Interest  in  this  connection.  There  are  on  file  in  the 
office  of  the  Civic  Commission  single  copies  showing  the  kind  of 
sectional  topographical  maps  published  by  the  ofiicial  surveys  of 
New  York,  of  Baltimore,  of  the  District  of  Columbia  and  of 
Zurich,  Switzerland  (representing  European  cities);  and  a  sheet 
of  the  large-sized  detailed  sectional  map  published  by  the  City  of 
Paris,  which  covers  the  whole  city  at  the  scale  of  ^i-o  or  about 
40  feet  to  the  inch. 

In  the   City  of  New  York,  for  the  first  four  years 

after  the  consolidation  in  1898,  the  work  of  pre- 
paring a  comprehensive  topographical  map,  and,  upon  the  basis 
thereof,  a  general  plan  of  streets,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Board 
of  Public  Improvements;  but  most  of  the  work  has  been  done 
since  the  establishment  of  independent  Topographical  Bureaus  in 
1902.  It  is  now  proposed  by  the  Comptroller  that  the  Bureaus 
of  the  several  Boroughs  be  again  centralized  under  the  Board  of 
Estimate  and  Apportionment.  The  triangulation,  upon  which  the 
whole  work  depends,  was  done  in  cooperation  with  the  United 
States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey. 

The  following  tables  indicate  the  magnitude  of  the  work  and 
the  amounts  expended  up  to  December  31,  1909,  the  force 
required  to  prosecute  the  work  and  a  detailed  analysis  of  the 
cost  of  the  work  in  the  Borough  of  Queens.  The  last  table  is 
taken  from  a  report  of  Assistant  Engineer  H.  K.  Endemann  to 
W.  C.  Elliott,  Engineer-in-charge.  In  the  first  table,  no  data  are 
given  as  to  Manhattan  and  Brooklyn  because  of  the  abnormal 
conditions  which  they  present. 


NEW    YORK 

AMOUNT    AND    COST   OF   WORK 


99 


Bronx 


Population  (1910) 430,980 

Total  area  in  acres 26,523 

Trianguiation  (in  acres) 26,523 

Topographical  Survey  (in  acres)  ....  26,523 

Tentative  Street  Maps  Approved  (in  acresl  18,700 

Final  Maps  Adopted  (in  acres)     ....  13,000 

Expenditures  1902-1909 $779i9i6 

Recommended  for  1910 $160,395 


Queens 


283,041 

75. "I 

75.1" 

55, 188 

19,661 

9,912 

!  1,28 1 ,946 

$362,752 


Richmond 


85,969 
36,480 
36,480 
18,430 
6,300 
6,300 

$839,975 
$218,000 


Totals 


138,114 

138,114 

100,141 

44,661 

29,212 

$2,901,837 

$705,147 


On  March  31,  1910,  the  forces  of  the  several  topographical 
Bureaus  of  New  York  were  as  follows: 


Bronx 

Queens 

Brooklyn 

Richmond 

Totals 

Engineers    in    charge    and     princ 
assistant  engineers 

ipal 

I 

17 
26 

21 
3 
7 
3 

2 
15 

53 

18 

6 

62 

15 

2 
16 

17 

12 

5 
II 

2 

I 

17 
41 

17 
2 

25 

8 

6 

Assistant  engineers 

65 
137 

68 
16 

Transitmen,  computers  and  draftsmen 
Chainmen,      rodmen,      axemen      and 

levelers 

Clerical 

Laborers 

Foremen,  drivers  and   others    .    . 

•    • 

105 
28 

Total 

78 
$160,395 

171 
$326,752 

$80,000 

III 

$218,000 

425 

$785,147 

Expenses  recommended  for  19 lo  . 

The  work  is  expected  to  be  so  far  advanced  as  to  permit  of 
material  reductions  in  the  present  staffs  at  the  following  dates:  in 
the  Bronx,  December  191 1  ;  in  Queens,  April  1915  ;  in  Brooklyn, 
April  1913;  in  Richmond,  June  191 1. 

A  detailed  analysis  of  the  cost  of  the  work  in  the  Borough 
of  Queens,  dated  October  14,  1910,  is  subjoined  : 


Topographical  Survey  including  prep- 
aration of  maps  of  street  system  and 
grades     


Monumenting,  including  final  traversing  | 
and    preparation    of    final    map    sec- 
tions     


Cost  per  acre  to  date 


Estimated  cost  per  acre 
of  completed  work 


Field    . 
Office  . 

Total  . 

Field   . 
Office  . 

Total  . 


13 
23 


Field 
Office 


"^lo  36*!  Total 


$27  92 
10  89 


Field 
Office 


:8  81*    Total 


.    .     $8  06 
.    .       2   23 


MO    29' 


1^20    44 

7  89 


^28  33' 


*The  difference  between  the  cost  per  acre  to  date  and  the  estimated  cost  [ler  acre  of 
completed  work  is  due  to  the  initial  cost  of  organization  and  to  the  cost  of  general  work, 
such  as  trianguiation  and  traversing,  which  must  be  done  at  the  start  for  the  whole  or  most 
of  the  area  to  be  surveyed. 


loo    PITTSBURGH— SURVEYS  AND  A  CITY  PLAN 

In  Baltimore  the  work  of  preparing  an  accurate  and 
Baltimore  comprehensive    topographical    and    property    map 

was  begun  in  1893  by  a  Topographical  Survey  Commission 
created  for  the  purpose.  The  area  completely  mapped  was  about 
thirty  square  miles  although  the  triangulation  necessarily  extended 
over  a  considerably  larger  area.  The  first  two-thirds  of  the  area 
mapped  was  completed  in  about  two  years;  the  cost,  including 
all  field  work,  office  work,  draughting,  and  publication,  was  about 
$5,000  per  square  mile.  Allowing  for  the  normally  higher  costs  of 
all  work  in  New  York  as  compared  with  Baltimore,  and  allowing 
for  the  fact  that  the  Baltimore  figures  include  little  if  any  street 
monumenting  or  final  record  maps  of  layout,  this  figure  cor- 
responds very  closely  with  the  cost  of  $10.29  per  acre  or  $6,585.60 
per  square  mile  reported  from  the  Borough  of  Queens. 


PART  IV 
Notes  on  Tarks  and  Recreation  Facilities 

PLANS  for  a  grouping  of  public  buildings  in  the  Bellefield 
District,  and  for  improving  the  entrance  to  Schenley  Park, 
have  been  studied  with  some  care.  Two  plans  are  herewith 
submitted  (Plan  A  and  Plan  B),  the  essential  difference  between 

them  being  that  Plan  A  contemplates  scarcely  more 
The  Bellefield       ^|^^^  ^j^^  improvement  of  the  existing  layout,  while 

Plan  B  involves  a  radical  change  of  design,  and 
absolutely  requires,  for  its  happy  execution,  a  control  of  develop- 
ments on  the  Frick  property  north  of  Forbes  Street. 

In  Plan  A  the  ravine  between  the  Carnegie  Institute  and 
Forbes  Field  Is  not  filled  up  but  is  enlarged.  The  bridge  over 
the  ravine  remains,  but  the  present  driveway  entrance  from 
Forbes  Street  is  moved  50  or  60  feet  east,  to  give  room  for  a 
double  row  of  trees  to  screen  the  Forbes  Field  grandstand.  This 
road  is  continued  south  from  the  end  of  the  stone  bride  to  Bates 
and  Boquet  Streets,  thus  gaining  a  direct  connection  to  the 
Oakland  District.  Another  driving  entrance  is  shown  east  of  the 
ravine  to  accommodate  travel  from  the  East  End  through 
Bellefield,  Dithridge  and  Forbes  Streets.  Bellefield  Street  is 
widened  and  Tennyson  Avenue  Is  extended  from  Fifth  Avenue 
to  Forbes  Street,  In  order  to  give  a  more  fitting  approach  to 
the  Institute.  And  finally,  an  appropriate  setting  is  provided 
for  the  front  of  the  Institute  by  a  small  plaza  surrounded  by 
public  or  quasi-public  buildings.  It  may  be  noted  that  one  of 
these  buildings,  the  stone  church  on  Dithridge  Street,  already 
exists,  but  It  is  nearly  hidden  from  Forbes  Street  by  cheap 
wooden  buildings  and  signboards. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  approach  from  Grant  Boulevard 
to  Schenley  Park  remains  rather  indirect,  and  even  with  the 
Bates  Street  extension  there  Is  a  lack  of  obvious  justification 
for  the  bridge  location.  It  must  be  granted,  however,  that  this 
bridge  In  itself  is  very  attractive;  and  the  whole  scene,  the  little 

(101) 


I02         PARKS    AND    RECREATION    FACILITIES 

valley  with  its  informal  groups  of  shrubbery  and  trees,  spanned 
at  one  end  by  a  stone  bridge,  is  extremely  interesting  and  picto- 
rial and  peculiarly  characteristic  of  the  Pittsburgh  topography. 
The  novelty  of  such  a  scene,  in  contrast  to  the  stiff  formality  of 


L^^ 


// 


'f] 


BELLEFIELD  IMPROVEMENT 
PLAN  A 

SCALE 


THE    BELLEFIELD    IMPROVEMENT 


103 


the  city  all  about,  gives  it  not  a  little  value,  and  there  is  reason- 
able doubt  if  it  should  not  be  saved  even  at  some  sacrifice.  An 
increased  use  of  this  valley  would  give  further  reason  for  its 
preservation;  and  the  proposed  taking  of  Junction  Hollow  for 
park  purposes  (discussed  below)  furnishes  the  opportunity.  By 
carrying  an  informal  park  treatment  from  the  valley  below  up  the 
ravine  and  under 
the  bridge  to 
Forbes  Street,  and 
by  having  plenty  of 
walks  and  benches 
and  attractive  plant- 
ing therein,  this 
ravine  becomes  an 
interesting  and  in- 
viting branch  of  the 
park,  and  serves 
also  as  an  informal 
entrance    to    the 


University  Buildings  at  Berlin,  suggestive  of  the  grouping 
proposed  at  the  entrance  to  Schenley  Park 


lower  park  levels  such  as  Junction   and  Panther  Hollows.    The 
use  and  the  value  of  the  ravine  are  thus  materially  increased. 

In  plan  B  the  ravine  is  filled  and  the  bridge  abandoned.  The 
present  Grant  Boulevard  approach  is  changed  to  a  more  direct 
and  dignified  approach  from  Fifth  Avenue  and  the  Boulevard  by 
widening  Tennyson  Avenue  and  cutting  a  broad  street  through 
from  Fifth  Avenue  and  Tennyson  to  Forbes  Street  on  the  axis  of 
the  new  park  entrance.  This  new  entrance  is  a  formal  court 
enclosed  by  the  Carnegie  Institute  on  the  east,  by  proposed 
public  buildings  on  the  north  and  west,  and  by  a  terrace  over- 
looking the  valley,  on  the  south.  By  narrowing  the  area  between 
the  Institute  and  Forbes  Field,  a  court  of  good  proportions  is 
obtained,  and  ample  space  is  left  on  land  already  owned  by  the 
City  for  the  enclosing  building  on  the  west.  The  strong  axial 
approach  in  reality  extends  the  park  entrance  to  Fifth  Avenue; 
and  the  court  at  Forbes  Street,  while  adding  to  the  dignity  and 
character  of  this  entrance,  becomes  a  fitting  plaza  around  which 
will  be  grouped  the  buildings  of  a  public  character.  At  the 
southern  end  of  this  court  are  the  terrace,  overlooking  the  park 
to  the  south,  and  the  two  driving    entrances,  one   over  Junction 


I04 


PARKS    AND    RECREATION    FACILITIES 


Hollow  bridge  as  at  present  and  the  other  skirting  down  the 
west  bank  of  Junction  Hollow  and  joining  the  new  Boundary 
Street  (mentioned  below),  and  thence  entering  the  present  park 
through  Panther  Hollow. 


<:> 


^ 


^ 


'^'  f0' 


:**~^/ 


i5t:LLKFif:ij:)  in!pr()\t:\!i:.\t 

PLAN   B 

SCAIX 

THE    BELLEFIELD    IMPROVEMENT 


105 


The  parking  of  Junction  Hollow  is  indicated  in  both  plans, 
A    and    B.     The    Baltimore  &  Ohio    Railroad    proposed    several 
years  ago  to  relocate   and  lower  its    tracks   in  Junction  Hollow 
and  to  abandon  its  present  roadbed  to  the  City  as  compensation 
for  the  streets  and  other  city  property   to  be   occupied    by   the 
new    railroad   right-of-way.    The  present  roadbed  would  become 
a  cross-town  thoroughfare*  (Boundary  Street)  and    the  railroad 
would  be  in  a  cut  just  west  of  the  street.    This  whole  scheme  has 
many  advantages  both  to  the  railroad  and  to  the  City,  and  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  it  may  soon  be  realized.    A  careful  investiga- 
tion has  shown  that  the   Baltimore  &  Ohio   owns  such   portions 
and  only  such  portions  of  the  valley  as  it  may  need  to  carry  out 
this  plan;  and  it  is  also  reasonably  certain  that  the  Railroad  does 
not  contemplate  using  the  wide  portion  of  the  valley — where  the 
Italian  settlement    now  is— for    freight    or  storage  yards.     This 
whole  valley  is  so  closely  associated  topographically  with  Schen- 
ley  Park,  it  plays  so  important  a  part  in  many  of  the  views  from 
the      Park,  —  from 
the  entrance,  from 
the  Junction   Hol- 
low   bridge,    from 
Panther    Hollow 
and     the     Panther 
Hollow    bridge, — 
that  its  control  is  of 
very    real    moment 
as  a  means  of  rais- 
ing   the    value    of 
the    western     por- 
tion   of     Schenley 
Park.    Incidently  it 
can  be  made  a  very 
attractive    and  valuable    park   unit   in    itself.    On  the   whole,  the 
entire  valley  from  Forbes  Street  to  Wilmot   Street,  and  possibly 
beyond,    should    be    controlled,    and    the   taking    should    extend 
to  the  top  of  the  west    bank.    In  the    narrow    portion    opposite 
Panther  Hollow  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  owns  to  the  top 
of  the  west  bank,  but  undoubtedly  it  >vill   be  willing  to  release  to 

*  Part   II,  Section   29,  p.  69. 


Junction   Hollow  at  Schenley  Park  entrance 


io6        PARKS    AND    RECREATION    FACILITIES 

the  City  such  portions  of  this  bank  as  are  not  required  by 
its  relocation  plans;  or,  if  not,  some  agreement  should  be 
reached  whereby  this  wooded  bank  will  be  saved  from  unneces- 
sary defacement. 

In  conclusion,  it  should  be  noted  that  Plan  A,  although  it 
shows  some  new  buildings  on  private  land,  would  be  reasonably 
satisfactory  without  them.  It  is  a  plan  which  does  not  change  the 
present  design  and  one  which  can  be  carried  out  without  the 
cooperation  of  private  landowners  in  the  development  of  adja- 
cent properties.  Plan  B  on  the  other  hand  involves  a  radical 
change  in  the  park  design,  and  furthermore  it  absolutely  requires 
the  cooperation  of  Mr.  Frick  in  the  development  of  his  property 
between  Forbes  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  or  the  acquirement  of 
that  property  by  the  City. 

Although  it  is  not  ordinarily  a  good  public  policy  to  make 
radical  changes  in  a  park  design  already  established,  the  improve- 
ments thereby  obtained  are  sometimes  so  positive  and  important 
that  the  procedure  is  fully  justified.  It  is  believed  that  the  radi- 
cal changes  proposed  in  Plan  B  are  fully  justified  by  the  value  of 
the  improvement  attained. 

This  street  —  a  boulevard  by  courtesy — has  un- 
Grant  Boulevard  ^Q^^tedly  more  than  justified  the  large  cost  of  its 
construction  by  supplying  a  much-needed  route  for  automobiles 
and  other  fast-moving  travel — largely  passenger  vehicles — between 
the  East  End  and  the  down  town  district.  But  it  is  to  be  re- 
gretted that  a  little  more  foresight  was  not  evidenced  in  planning 
this  work;  that  a  better  appreciation  was  not  shown  of  the 
splendid  opportunities  offered  and  of  incidental  purposes  to  be 
served.  Located  as  it  is  at  a  commanding  height  on  a  steep  hill- 
side with  an  impressive  outlook  over  the  Allegheny  Valley  and  the 
hills  beyond,  and  with  little  chance  to  develop  a  commercial  front- 
age, this  street  seems  peculiarly  fitted  to  be  a  real  pleasure  way 
in  fact  as  well  as  in  name.  But  instead  it  has  been  built  without 
even  room  for  shade  trees  ;  it  is  a  mere  street,  in  all  appearances 
like  any  other  trafllic  way  of  the  city,  and  no  more  generous  in  its 
width  than  Fifth  Avenue  or  Smithfield  Street;  and  the  unkempt, 
sordid  appearance  of  the  slumping  hillsides  above  is  an  ever- 
present  eyesore. 

In  view  of  these  facts  it  is  urged  that  the  following  improve- 


GRANT    BOULEVARD 


107 


ments  be  made  in  Grant  Boulevard :  First,  enough  additional 
width  should  be  obtained,  where  the  value  of  frontage  or  the 
character  of  the  land  does  not  make  it  impracticable,  to  provide 
for  a  planting-strip  with  shade  trees  on  either  side  of  the  road- 
way. Second,  additional  width  should  be  secured  at  certain  points 
along  the  street,  where  the  opportunity  seems  most  favorable,  in 
order  to  provide  special  tree-shaded  promenades  or  overlook 
terraces,  where  people  may  stroll  amidst  comfortable  and  agree- 
able surroundings,  or  sit  upon  benches  and  watch  the  passing 
stream  of  travel  or  look  out  upon  the  broad,  distant  views. 
Third,  the  steep  hillsides  above  the  Boulevard,  at  least  those 
which  do  not  have 
and  are  not  likely  to 
have  in  the  future 
any  appreciable 
commercial  value, 
should  be  con- 
trolled by  the  City 
and  reclaimed  from 
their  present  status 
as  free  dumping- 
grounds  and  barren 
wastes.  These  hill- 
sides are  in   fact  so  Suggestion  from  Lausanne  for  treatment  of  a  bluff 

closely  related  to  the  Boulevard  that  their  appearance  is  of  almost 
equal  import,  in  the  value  of  the  street  as  a  pleasure  thoroughfare, 
with  the  treatment  of  the  street  itself.  Neatly  kept  banks,  partially 
covered  with  trees  and  shrubs,  would  go  far  toward  making  this 
street  a  boulevard  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name.  Finally,  where  the 
slopes  are  too  steep  to  stand  securely  at  all  times  of  year  and  in  all 
kinds  of  weather,  retaining  walls  should  be  built  to  prevent  the 
slumping  of  clayey  hillsides  into  the  road,  and  the  more  danger- 
ous falling  of  large  pieces  of  stone  from  the  disintegrating  cliflfs. 
Except  for  the  western  portion,  the  banks  are  seldom  steep 
enough  to  require  a  wall  of  more  than  ten  feet  or  so  in  height, 
even  if  the  street  is  widened  fifteen  or  twenty  feet;  but  west  of 
the  line  of  Kirkpatrick  Street  the  bank  becomes  steeper  and  is 
partially  supported  by  strata  of  rather  firm  shale.  It  is  where  the 
bank  is  almost  precipitous  for  a  height  of  30  to  60  feet  that  the 


io8        PARKS    AND    RECREATION    FACILITIES 

problem  becomes  difficult.  A  regular  retaining  wall  of  that  height 
would  be  a  tremendous  undertaking  and  would  look  none  too 
well  in  the  bargain.  It  may  be  noted,  however,  that  these  cliffs  are 
not  solid  ledges  of  shale,  but  are  composed  of  separate  layers,  or 
strata,  of  pretty  firm  shale,  between  which  are  layers  of  loose  dis- 
integrated stone  and  earthy  material.  It  is  believed  that  advan- 
tage can  be  taken  of  this  formation,  and  that  all  the  necessary 
retaining  can  be  done  by  several  low  walls,  built  one  upon  each 
stratum  of  ledge,  and  extending  up  to  the  bottom  of  the  next 
solid  stratum  above.    Each  wall  would  thus  retain  only  the  few 


Terraced  gardens  at  Bern,   effectively  using  the  opportunity  offered 
by  steeply  sloping  land 

feet  of  loose  material  between  two  solid  strata,  and  it  need  not, 
therefore,  be  very  thick  or  heavy;  and  in  addition  to  the  work  of 
retaining,  each  little  wall  would  act  as  a  support  for  the  shale 
stratum  above.  Such  a  device  would  require  less  than  a  quarter 
of  the  volume  of  masonry  needed  for  one  large  retaining  wall. 
Furthermore,  if  each  little  wall,  instead  of  being  built  directly 
over  the  one  below  it,  were  set  back  a  foot  or  two,  or  even 
more,  as  circumstances  might  require,  and  if  small  ledges  and 
pockets  were  thus  left,  where  little  shrubs  and  vines  and  other 
clinging  plants  could  be  grown  ;  and  if  great  pains  were  taken 
to  avoid  the  stiff  monotony  of  regular  cut  masonry,  it  will  be 
possible  to  make  this  utilitarian  construction  a  feature  of  interest 
and  beauty. 


STEEP    HILLSIDES 


109 


The   problem   of    making    use   of    the    excessively 
steep    hillsides    in    the    Pittsburgh     District    is    a 
troublesome    one. 


Steep  Hillsides 


great 


There  is  a 
deal  of  such  land 
in  the  district, 
amounting,  outside 
of  the  flat  regions 
of  East  Liberty 
and  the  down  town 
districts,  to  as 
much  as  30  to  35 
per     cent    of     the 


Hillside  Suggestion  from  Nice — Easy  gradients  and  beauty 


total  area.*  Gener- 
ally speaking,  the  slopes  are  of  little  value  for  business  purposes 
and  are  not  well  adapted  to  residential  use,  the  cost  of  develop- 
ment being  excessive  in  proportion  to  the  location  value  of  the 
improved  property.  The  market  prices  are  naturally  low,  especi- 
ally for  the  steeper  and  rougher  slopes  and  peaks  and  gulleys ; 
and  there  the  owners  of  very  many  of  these  unavailable  proper- 
ties have  been  delinquent  in  their  taxes  for  so  many  years  that 
the  accumulation  of  taxes  and  costs  of  attempted  collection  form 
a  lien  that  is  much  larger  than  the  owner's  equity  in  the  property 
or  even  than  its  total  value.  As  a  rule  these  "unavailable  areas" 
are  unoccupied  and  unproductive,  and  are  mainly  held  by  owners 
not  resident  in  the  locality,  whose  sole  interest  in  them  is  in  the 

hope  —  sometimes  a  for- 
lorn hope — of  an  ultimate 
speculative  profit.  In  far 
too  many  cases  they  are 
apt  to  be  wholly  uncared 
for  and  to  become  shabby, 
dirty,  and  altogether  un- 
sightly, depreciating  ad- 
jacent property  and  con- 
tributing largely  to  the 
slatternly     conditions     in 

Hillside  road  in  a  park  at  Nice  the      mid  St     of     which      SO 

*See  map  between  Preface  and  Introduction. 


no        PARKS    AND    RECREATION    FACILITIES 


Steep  hillside  in   Bern,   made  available   for   public  use  and   enjoyment 

many  of  Pittsburgh's  working  people,  no  matter  how  self-respect- 
ing and  personally  cleanly,  are  compelled  to  live. 

The  condition  is  a  deplorable  one  from  every  point  of  view, 
and  it  is  of  great  importance  that  steps  should  be  taken  to  alter 
it.  Where  they  are  really  worth  developing  for  private  occupa- 
tion, so  as  to  become  useful  and  productive,  such  lands  ought 
generally  to  be  so  improved ;  in  the  many  other  instances   where 


^>" 


■■-¥ 


w^ 


Hillside  path   at  Nice,    laid  out  to  avoid  steep  gradients 


STEEP    HILLSIDES 


III 


to  follow  such  a  course  would  be  for  the  owners  to  throw  good 
money  after  bad,  the  City  ought  to  step  in  and  assume  the  burden 
of  maintaining  the  land  in  a  decent  and  attractive  condition,  con- 
verting it  from  a  public  nuisance  into  a  park  asset  of  positive 
value  to  the  public. 

To  advance  this  end  the  City  ought  to  pursue  a  definitely 
active  policy  in  the  matter.  First,  it  should  systematically  insist 
upon  the  maintenance  of  all  such  vacant  lands  in  a  clean  and 
orderly  condition,  and,  upon  the  failure  of  any  owner  to  perform 
the  duty,  it  should  declare  the  condition  of  the  lot  a  nuisance,  clean 
it  up,  and  make  the  cost  a  lien  upon  the  property.  Second,  it 
should  entirely  re- 
form the  procedure 
with  respect  to  the 
collection  of  delin- 
quent taxes  and 
other  public  liens  ; 
instead  of  allowing 
them  to  run  on 
indefinitely  with 
accumulating  costs, 
it  should  enforce  a 
prompt  settlement 

or  demand   the  sale  A"  overlook  terrace  at  Lyons 

of  the  property  for  taxes.  Third,  it  should  deliberately  acquire 
considerable  areas  of  the  lands  in  question,  by  tax  sale,  private 
purchase  or  condemnation,  having  due  regard,  in  selecting  the 
lands  for  acquisition,  for  their  relative  adaptability  to  public  and 
to  private  use. 

Generally  speaking,  these  steeper  and  more  irregular  pieces 
will  be  of  greater  use  to  the  public  than  they  could  be  to  private 
occupants.  It  must  be  noted,  however,  that  their  value  for 
recreation  is  distinctly  limited.  They  cannot  adequately  or 
economically  supply  the  local  needs  for  playfields,  out-door 
gymnasiums  and  the  like  ;  and  as  isolated  fragments  they  cannot, 
of  course,  fulfill  the  functions  of  large  rural  parks.  It  is  possible, 
however,  to  lay  out  sidehill  walks  on  easy  gradients  and  to  furnish 
seats  and  terraces,  especially  near  the  upper  edge  of  such  declivi- 
ties, where   the   people  of   the   neighborhood   can   stroll   and   rest 


112         PARKS    AND    RECRExlTION    FACILITIES 

and  enjoy  interesting  and  extensive  views  over  the  city,  the  river 
or  the  adjacent  valley;  always  with  the  steep  natural  hillside  below 

as  a  foreground. 

Such  areas,  for 
instance,  as  the  rug- 
ged slope  under 
Bluff  Street,  or  the 
precipitous  land 
south  of  West  Car- 
son Street  should 
be  under  public 
control.  Hillsides 
less  conspicuous, 
less  striking  in  their 
characteristics,  and 
offering  inferior  op- 


Precipitous  hillside  in  Paris,  planted  and  cared  for 
by  the  City 


portunities  of  outlook — while  in  themselves,  perhaps,  of  doubtful 
value  to  the  city — should  be  taken  over  rather  than  allowed  to 
become  positively  injurious  features  In  private  hands.  In  other 
cases,  unless  their  cost  is  practically  nothing,  and  there  is  no 
apparent  probability  of  future  tax-paying  development,  the  City 
could  hardly  afford  to  purchase  and  maintain  them. 


Hillside  at  Meissen,  made  useful  and  attractive  by 
terracing,  planting  and  care 


GENERAL    DISCUSSION    OF    PARKS 

In    any  city  closely  built  over  a   large  area,  public  parks  or 
recreation  grounds  become  one  of  the  most  urgent  civic  needs, 
if  the  health  and  vigor  of  the  people  are  to  be  maintained.    And 
the  most  important  classes  to   provide   for  are  the  children  and 
the    women  of  the  wage-earning    families ;    most  important,    not 
only  because  of  their  numbers  and  of  the  direct  influence  of  their 
health   and  vigor  upon  the  efficiency  of  the  coming  generation, 
but  also  because  they,  least  of  all,  have  energy  and  opportunity  to 
seek  out  healthful  recreation  at  a  distance.    Normally  it  requires 
two  distinct  kinds  of  recreation  grounds  to  supply  the  needs  of 
these  people,— the  local  or  neighborhood   park  for  frequent  and 
regular  use,  and  the  rural  park  for  occasional  holiday  enjoyment. 
The  size  and    form  and    character  most  desirable 
Neighborhood        ^^^  neighborhood  recreation  grounds  depend  upon 
the  functions  to  be  performed  by  each.    Some  of 
the  activities  in  the  best  developed  playgrounds,  as  for  example 
in  Chicago,  are  these:   (i)  The  playing  of  little  children  in  sand- 
piles    and    upon    the    lawn,   under   the  watchful    guidance    of   an 
attendant  who  not  only  keeps  them  out  of  danger  and  mischief, 
but  plays  with  them,  tells  them  stories  and  stimulates  the  healthy 
activity  of  their  little  minds  and   bodies.    Here  the  mothers  may 
come  with  their  children  and  remain  to  watch  them  play  or  leave 
them  in  safety.  A  plot  one  hundred  feet  square  may  be  of  value  for 
such  uses.     (2)  For  boys  of  larger  growth  and  men  and  for  girls 
and  women,  the  more  active  games  with  and  without  apparatus, 
in  the   open  air  and    under  cover,  always  with   opportunity  and 
inducement    to    bathe,  and,  if    possible,  with    a    swimming-pool. 
Sometimes  space  is  found  for  the    big  field    games  and    regular 
athletic  sports  on  a  running  track;  sometimes  for  nothing  that 
takes  more  space  than  basketball.    (3)  For  the  older  and  the  less 
active  people,  pleasant  shaded  walks  for  strolling  and  benches  to 
sit  upon  amid    agreeable  surroundings,  with  opportunity  to  see 
the  youngsters  play,  and  once  or  twice  a  week,  perhaps,  to  enjoy 
a   band   concert.    (4)  For  the  use  of  all,  a  field   house  where  the 
sanitary  accommodations   are  kept  to   a  standard   of  cleanliness 
and  order  that  sets  a  good  example  to  the  neighborhood,  where 
a    reading-room    branch   of    the    public    library    is   available,  and 
in  which  one  or    more    large    rooms  are  at   the  disposal    of    the 


114        PARKS    AND    RECREATION    FACILITIES 

neighborhood  for  lectures,  entertainments  and  dances.  Clean, 
healthy  recreation  may  thus  be  given  full  play  amid  decent  sur- 
roundings instead  of  being  driven  to  saloons,  to  vicious  or 
questionable  dance-halls  and  other  baneful  establishments  for  the 
commercial  exploitation  of  the  spirit  of  play. 

Of  perhaps  first  importance  in  the  planning  of  local  parks  is 
the  problem  of  distribution — accessibility  to  the  people  served. 
Practically  there  are  few  women  or  small  children  who  will  take 
the  trouble  habitually  to  walk  much  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  to  a  playground  or  local  park  for  exercise  or  rest,  and  for 
most  a  carfare  is  out  of  the  question.  This  means  that,  ideally, 
there  should  be  neighborhood  recreation  centers  not  more  than  a 
quarter  or  at  most  a  half  mile  from  every  home  in  the  city. 

As  for  the  total  area  desired  for  local  parks,  it  is  so  seldom 
possible  to  get  enough  that  there  is  little  danger  of  overdoing 
the  purchase;  and  the  extremely  limited  experience  of  any  of  our 
cities  renders  any  definite  figures  on  the  subject  decidedly  mis- 
leading. But  there  is  a  rather  general  consensus  of  opinion  that 
about  5  per  cent  of  the  total  city  area  is  a  reasonable  minimum 
allowance  to  be  devoted  to  local  parks,  playgrounds,  and  squares, 
and  that  more  than  lO  per  cent  may  be  uneconomic. 

In  Pittsburgh  the  questions  of  size  and  distribution  of  local 
parks  must  be  considerably  affected  by  the  topographical  condi- 
tions. The  city  and  the  contiguous  boroughs  are,  to  a  certain 
extent,  subdivided  into  hilltop  and  valley  communities,  close 
together  it  may  be,  but  nevertheless  isolated  one  from  the  other 
by  almost  precipitous  hillsides  from  one  hundred  to  four  or  five 
hundred  feet  in  height.  These  communities  are  sometimes  very 
small  and  are  frequently  very  irregular  in  shape,  as,  for  instance, 
when  confined  to  the  bottom  of  a  narrow  valley  only  two  or  three 
hundred  feet  in  width  and  a  mile  or  two  in  length.  And  even  on 
those  hillsides  where  a  less  severe  topography  does  not  actually 
stop  development,  it  may  still  make  intercommunication  so  diffi- 
cult and  laborious  that  the  upper  portion  is  practically  separated 
from  the  lower. 

Under  such  conditions  it  is  certain  that  a  comparatively  small 
recreation  center  is  the  most  suitable  local  park  unit,  especially 
in  the  rougher  portions  of  the  Pittsburgh  District.  In  Chicago 
and    other   cities   of    normally  flat  topography,   such   advantages 


GENERAL    DISCUSSION    OF    PARKS  115 

have  been  found  in  grouping  related  activities — economy  in  main- 
tenance and  operation,  and  increase  of  efficiency  per  thousand  of 
population  served — that,  other  things  being  equal,  reasonably  large 
park  units,  probably  twenty  acres  or  more  in  extent,  are  con- 
sidered more  desirable  than  the  same  total  area  split  into  a  larger 
number  of  small  scattered  squares.  But  the  conditions  in  Pitts- 
burgh are  peculiar.  Here  each  isolated  community,  no  matter 
how  small,  needs  its  local  park;  every  portion  of  the  long,  narrow 
valley  settlement  should  be  near  a  park ;  and  hillside  settlements 
at  distinct  levels  should  have  separate  opportunities  for  recrea- 
tion. Considering  the  size  and  shape  of  the  area  to  be  served  in 
many  of  these  cases  it  is  evident  that  the  advantages  of  concen- 
tration must  give  way  to  the  need  for  frequent  centers,  and  that 
economy  will  here  indicate  the  adoption  of  a  normal  size  con- 
siderably less  than  that  most  desirable  for  cities  of  flatter 
topography. 

In  selecting  the  land  for  local  parks  in  Pittsburgh  there  are 
three  chief  points  to  consider:  cheapness,  suitability  of  the  land 
for  the  purpose,  and  accessibility  to  the  people  who  will  use  it. 
The  best  method  of  procedure  is  as  follows:  first,  decide  upon 
the  general  locality  within  which  the  park  is  needed  and  the  func- 
tions which  it  is  to  serve;  second,  make  a  general  examination  of 
the  values  of  property  within  the  locality,  consider  roughly  the 
cost  of  developing  different  kinds  of  land  into  the  sort  of  park 
required,  and  select,  tentatively,  one  or  more  sites  which  seem 
promising;  third,  obtain  options  on  such  of  the  land  within  the 
limits  of  the  tentative  site  or  sites  as  can  be  put  under  favorable 
option  ;  then,  fourth,  ask  publicly  for  the  tender  of  any  lands  in 
the  locality  for  parks,  and  hold  public  hearings  thereon  ;  finally, 
in  the  light  of  the  information  thus  secured,  select  definitely  the 
site  and  boundaries  of  the  park  and  take  the  lands  by  condemna- 
tion proceedings.  It  is  far  better  to  proceed  in  this  way  than  to 
begin  by  buying  or  accepting  certain  pieces  of  land,  no  matter 
how  favorable  the  terms  may  be,  and  subsequently  acquiring 
adjacent  pieces  to  rectify  the  boundaries  or  complete  the  requisite 
area.  The  very  establishment  of  a  park  renders  the  adjacent  land 
more  valuable  at  once,  and  therefore,  if  the  City  buys  park  land 
piecemeal  it  has  to  pay  in  the  latter  purchases  an  increased  price 
due  solely  to  its  having  previously  started  to  establish  a  park  in 


ii6        PARKS    AND    RECREATION    FACILITIES 

the  neighborhood.  The  condemnation  process,  preceded  by 
obtaining  options  where  possible,  takes  all  the  land  at  one  and 
the  same  instant,  and  the  cost  is  that  of  land  in  a  parkless  district. 

Delay  is  apt  to  add  but  little  to  the  cost  of  acquiring  parks 
in  built-up  regions  where  land  and  building  values  are  reasonably 
stable,  whereas  it  adds  enormously  to  the  cost  in  regions  at  the 
growing  margin  of  the  city.  Here,  where  the  greater  city  of  the 
future  is  being  made,  is  surely  the  opportunity  to  save  the  large 
cost  of  supplying  a  built-up  district  with  neighborhood  parks. 

It  should  be  the  invariable  rule,  as  it  is  in  some  of  the  states 
of  Germany,  that  the  amount  of  land  which  will  be  required  to 
meet  the  public  needs  of  the  locality  when  fully  developed  should 
be  set  apart  as  a  necessary  incident  to  the  subdivision  of  land. 
The  method  of  setting  apart  such  lands  in  a  district  which  is  sub- 
divided and  put  on  the  market  by  a  single  owner  would  normally 
be  dedication,  as  in  the  case  of  streets;  but  where  the  area  to  be 
subdivided  is  controlled  by  a  number  of  different  owners,  the 
City  might  have  to  purchase  or  condemn  the  necessary  public 
spaces  and  assess  the  cost  upon  the  whole  district  benefited,  as  it 
frequently  has  to  do  with  streets  that  run  through  the  lands  of 
several  owners.  A  rigid  and  universal  city  regulation  as  to  the 
reservation  of  open  spaces  would  remove  the  competitive  pres- 
sure which  now  forces  many  real  estate  owners  and  promoters  to 
adopt,  as  a  pure  matter  of  business,  an  illiberal  and  short-sighted 
policy  in  the  layout  of  land. 

Some  of  the  most  successful  suburban  real  estate  operators 
in  the  northeastern  states  have  satisfied  themselves,  and  are  now 
operating  on  the  principle,  that  the  dedication  of  land  for  local 
park  purposes,  up  to  a  reasonable  amount,  if  so  arranged  as  not  to 
interfere  with  the  lotting  system,  actually  increases  the  net  returns 
from  the  operation.  On  a  plat  which  was  drawn  by  Wood,  Har- 
mon &  Company  to  illustrate  the  application  of  this  principle, 
about  30  per  cent  of  the  area  was  devoted  to  streets  (about  the 
normal  figure  for  Pittsburgh)  and  about  7^4^  per  cent  to  the  park. 

The  large  rural   park  ought  to  provide  something 
Rural  Parks  .  f^rc  r  \  •    lu      l        j  1 

quite     dirterent     from     the     neighborhood     park. 

Except  for  those  who  live  near  it  and    for  whom   it  may   serve 

incidentally  as  a  local  park   also,  it  is  remote  from  the  people, 

can  be  visited  only  occasionally  and  with  some  effort,  and  it  will 


SPECIAL    PARK    OPPORTUNITIES  117 

be  justified    only  if   it    affords  something  which   the    small  local 
parks    are  totally   unable   to    give.     To    afford  the  maximum  of 
pleasant  contrast  with  urban  conditions  is    its  fundamental  pur- 
pose and,  if  it  fail  in  this,  there  is  reasonable  doubt  if  its  return 
in  public  usefulness  is  worth  its  cost  to  the  community.    A  con- 
siderable degree  of    seclusion  from    adjacent   land    with    its    city 
developments  is  practically  essential,  and  the  more  complete  the 
barrier,  both  as  to  sight  and  sound,  the  more  perfectly  will  the 
park  fulfil  its  purpose.    A  sense  of  spaciousness  is  very  import- 
ant,—the  expansive  opposite  of  cramping  city  streets  and  walls. 
For  this  is  needed  the  concentration  of  a  large  area  in  a  single 
park.     But  of   greater  importance   than    mere  size,  especially  m 
Pittsburgh,  is  the  topographical  situation.    Hilltop  lands  though 
not  in  the   least  secluded    frequently  offer  vantage  points   from 
which  to  look  upon  vast  stretches  of  landscape,  thus  giving  the 
greatest  possible  sense  of  spaciousness  and  lack  of  confinement. 
On   the    other    hand,  the    valleys,  with  their   wooded    banks,  are 
unrivaled    in    the    natural    opportunities    they    afford    for    almost 
complete   seclusion    from  urban   surroundings.      Fortunately   the 
Pittsburgh  District  is  well  endowed  with  available  sites   of  both 
kinds,  a    few   of    which    are    noted    below   under  "  Special    Park 
Opportunities." 

SPECIAL   PARK   OPPORTUNITIES 

The  following  are  some  notes,  made  in  the  course  of  the 
main  thoroughfare  investigations,  regarding  certain  special  oppor- 
tunities for  parks  and  parkways  in  and  about  Pittsburgh. 

I.  Moultrie  Street  Playground.— Tht  small  playground  at  Moul- 
trie Street,  in  the  Soho  District,  should  be  enlarged;  for  it  is 
in  the  midst  of  a  section  where  the  need  for  public  recreation 
facilities  is  very  great.  Moultrie  Street,  running  north  from  Fifth 
Avenue,  can  be  abandoned  beyond  the  south  side  of  the  play- 
ground, because  the  proposed  street  on  the  hillside  to  the  west* 
will  furnish  the  needed  connection  between  Fifth  Avenue  and 
Centre  Avenue.  The  playground  can  then  be  extended  from  side 
to  side  of  the  valley  bottom  and  north  to  the  foot  of  the  dump, 
thus  getting  an  area  of  some  y/z  acres.  This  dump,  by  the  way, 
should  not  be  extended  any  further  down  the  valley. 

*Part   II,   Section    i2,    page  62 


ii8        PARKS    AND    RECREATION    FACILITIES 

2.  Mill-vale  Playground.— At  Millvale,  Butler  Street  bends  into 
the  mouth  of  the  valley  leaving  a  fair  space  of  vacant  land  (some 
5  or  6  acres)  between  the  street  and  the  railroad.  Although  this 
would  not  be  an  ideal  location  for  a  large  neighborhood  park, 
because  the  district  benefited  is  entirely  on  one  side,  and  the 
maximum  number  of  people  that  could  be  accommodated  would 
not  be  found  within  easy  walking  distance,  a  small  park  such  as 
this,  adjacent  to  the  dense  population  of  Millvale,  would  proba- 
bly be  within  reach  of  all  the  people  it  could  reasonably  serve. 
Where  flat  vacant  land  is  so  scarce,  this  opportunity  for  a  small 
park  should  not  be  neglected. 

3.  Etna  Playground.— M  Etna  there  is  some  vacant  land  in  the 
hollow  between  Butler  Street  and  Pine  Creek  in  the  vicinity  of 
Isabella  Street.  Though  the  area  is  small,  it  should  be  reserved  for 
public  recreation,  for  it  is  in  the  midst  of  a  dense  population  of 
working  people,  a  place  where  playground  space  is  most  m 
demand. 

4.  Etna  Park.— A  short  distance  up  the  Pine  Creek  valley, 
just  above  the  upper  mills  of  the  Spang-Chalfant  Company,  is  a 
large  meadow  between  the  railroad  and  the  main  valley  thorough- 
fare on  the  east,  and  the  steep  hillside  on  the  west.  Bearing  in 
mind  that  this  valley  is  the  most  important  line  of  connection 
from  Pittsburgh  to  the  northern  districts  and  is  consequently  sure 
to  build  up  thickly,  even  as  less  important  valleys  have  done,  it 
seems  wise  to  secure  this  land  for  public  use  while  it  is  still 
vacant.  Some  fifteen  acres  are  now  available,  and  a  complete, 
useful,  and  beautiful  recreation  ground  could  easily  be  made 
therewith.  The  flatness  of  the  ground  would  make  the  develop- 
ment of  such  a  park  easy  and  comparatively  cheap. 

5.  Chartiers  Falley. —ThQVQ  is  a  good  deal  of  vacant  land  along 
the  Chartiers  Valley,  even  in  the  vicinity  of  McKees  Rocks. 
Considering  the  character  and  density  of  the  population  at 
McKees  Rocks,  and  in  the  northern  corner  of  Sheraden,  it  would 
seem  eminently  wise  to  secure  a  reasonable  amount  of  this  for 
local  parks. 

6.  T^cinkin  Playground.— \n  Rankin  there  is  a  hollow  east  of 
Kenmawr  Avenue  between  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  and  Brad- 
dock  Avenue,  which  is  available  for  a  playground.  Eight  or  ten 
acres  could    probably   be  obtained,  and,  by  controlling  the  banks 


SPECIAL    PARK    OPPORTUNITIES  119 

of  the  hollow,  a  beautiful  and  secluded  little  park  could  be  made. 
It  is  in  the  center  of  thickly  populated  sections  of  Rankin  and 
Braddock, 

7.  Sawmill  'l{iin  Parkway. — The  Sawmill  Run  valley,  from  the 
West  End  to  Fairhaven  and  possibly  beyond,  offers  a  park  and 
parkway  opportunity  which  should  not  be  neglected  until  com- 
mercial development  becomes  a  serious  stumbling  block  to  its 
realization.  It  is  an  interesting  valley  of  varying  width  and  form, 
enclosed  by  high,  steep  banks,  occasionally  wooded ;  in  some 
parts  it  is  wide  enough  only  for  a  drive,  while  in  others  large,  flat 
meadows  make  ideal  places  for  play.  And  Sawmill  Run  itself, 
when  it  is  no  longer  used  as  an  open  sewer,  will  be  an  additional 
element  of  park  value.  Surrounded  as  it  is  by  land  accessible  to 
the  city  and  reasonably  adapted  to  residential  use,  this  valley 
seems  an  unusual  opportunity  for  effective  park  service.  In  taking 
it  for  park  use,  Shalervllle  and  the  Bell  Tavern  settlement  would, 
of  course,  be  excepted;  otherwise,  the  holdings  should  be  con- 
tinuous from  Temperanceville  to  Fairhaven;  and  such  scattered 
buildings  as  would  in  any  way  impair  the  value  of  the  park 
should  eventually  be  removed.  A  boulevard  thoroughfare  should 
extend  the  length  of  the  valley,  serving  not  only  as  a  cross-town 
connection  between  Important  radial  thoroughfares,  but  as  a  link 
in  a  circumferential  parkway  system.* 

8.  Nine  Mile  T{iin  Park. — Perhaps  the  most  striking  oppor- 
tunity noted  for  a  large  park  is  the  valley  of  Nine  Mile  Run.  Its 
long  meadows  of  varying  width  would  make  ideal  playfields  ;  the 
stream,  when  it  is  freed  from  sewage,  will  be  an  attractive  and 
interesting  element  in  the  landscape  ;  the  wooded  slopes  on  either 
side  give  ample  opportunity  for  enjoyment  of  the  forest,  for 
shaded  walks  and  cool  resting  places ;  and  above  all  it  is  not 
far  from  a  large  working  population  in  Hazelwood,  Homestead, 
Rankin,  Swissvale,  Edgewood,  Wilkinsburg,  Brushton  and  Home- 
wood  ;  and  yet  it  is  so  excluded  by  its  high  wooded  banks  that 
the  close  proximity  of  urban  development  can  hardly  be  imagined. 
If  taken  for  park  purposes,  the  entire  valley  from  the  top  of  one 
bank  to  the  top  of  the  other  should  be  included,  for  upon  the 
preservation  of  these  wooded  banks  depends  much  of  the  real 
value  of  the  park. 

*Part  II,  Section  71,  page  81. 


I20        PARKS    AND    RECREATION    FACILITIES 

A  pleasure  drive  should  extend  from  one  end  of  this  valley  to 
the  other.  The  route  of  this  drive  has  not  been  studied.  At  the 
northern  end,  however,  there  is  no  apparent  obstacle  to  reaching 
any  of  the  important  thoroughfares,  such  as  Penn  Avenue  or 
Forbes  Street.  At  the  other  end  there  is  a  good  chance  to  extend 
a  parkway  down  the  river  as  a  riverside  drive,*  connecting  at  the 
Glenwood  bridge  with  a  proposed  boulevard  thoroughfare  to  the 
down  town  district. t  This  would  furthermore  be  a  desirable  link 
in  a  circumferential  parkway  system  which  it  is  not  unlikely  will 
some  day  extend  southward  from  the  Glenwood  bridge,  and  ulti- 
mately connect  with  the  Sawmill  Run  parkway  above  proposed. 
(Section  7  above.) 

9.  Squaw  Run  P^r^.— Northeast  of  Aspinwall  the  valley  of 
Squaw  Run  with  its  tributary,  Stonycamp  Run,  would  be  ideal  for 
park  use.  It  has  great  beauty  and  variety  of  landscape.  It  has 
fields  for  playing  as  well  as  woods  and  a  brook.  It  is  secluded 
and  by  its  wooded  banks  can  always  be  kept  so,  even 
when  the  higher  land  about  it  is  commercially  developed.  It  is 
none  too  accessible  at  present,  but  it  is  in  a  clean  and  beautiful 
region,  well  adapted,  topographically,  for  residential  use,  and  such 
development  will  inevitably  follow  the  improvement  of  transpor- 
tation facilities  to  the  business  districts  of  Pittsburgh.  The  park 
will  then  supply  the  local  needs  of  the  surrounding  communities, 
and,  furthermore,  it  will  be  easily  reached  from  many  parts  of  the 
city.    A  parkway  thoroughfare  should  extend  up  the  valley. t 

10.  Guyasuta  Park.— Just  west  of  Aspinwall  is  the  valley  of 
Guyasuta  Run,  a  beautiful  wooded  ravine  well  suited  to  give  holi- 
day enjoyment  to  the  people.  It  is  already  used  extensively  for 
this  purpose,  and  it  should  be  saved   for  the  people  for  all  time. 

11.  Allegheny  River  Parkway.— A  riverside  thoroughfare  is 
described  on  page  79  (Part  II,  Section  61),  running  from  the 
Sharpsburg  bridge  up  the  Allegheny  Riverto  Hoboken  or  Mont- 
rose. This  should  certainly  be  treated  as  a  parkway,  for  oppor- 
tunities to  take  advantage  of  the  river  in  this  way  for  public 
enjoyment  are  rare  in  Pittsburgh.  Connections  should  be  made 
into  the  Guyasuta  Run  and   Squaw  Run  valleys. 

12.  "Beechwood  Boulevard.— From  Highland  Park  to  Franks- 
town    Avenue,    Beechwood    Boulevard    follows    the    bottom  of    a 

*Part  11,  Section  32,  p.  70.        t  Part  II,  Section  14.  p.  62.         t  Part  II,  Section  63,  p.  79- 


SPECIAL    PARK    OPPORTUNITIES 


121 


valley.  The  plateau  land  above  is  thickly  settled,  and  the  valley 
banks  are  mere  dumps  of  the  most  unsightly  and  objectionable 
character,  which  rob  the  Boulevard  of  much  of  its  value  as  a 
pleasure  drive.  These  banks  are  commercially  of  little  use.  In 
some  portions  of  the  valley  there  is  sufficient  depth  of  private 
property  between  the  Boulevard  and  the  foot  of  the  bank  to 
give  usable  frontage  on  the  parkway,  but  the  location,  in  the 
bottom  of  a  valley,  is  so  undesirable  for  house  sites  that  a  very 
cheap  and  unsightly  development  is  apt  to  take  place.  This 
would  be  even  more  damaging  to  the  pleasure  drive  than  the 
present  conditions.  It  is  urged,  therefore,  that  this  whole  valley 
from  the  top  of  one  bank  to  the  top  of  the  other  be  taken  as  an 
essential  part  of  the  present  parkway. 

13.  Negley  Run  Parkway. — It  is  further  urged  that  the  entire 
valley  of  Negley  Run  be  added  to  the  park  system.  This  would 
be  part  of  the  plan  for  extending  a  thoroughfare  parkway  from 
Beechwood  Boule- 
vard up  this  valley 
and  along  Prince- 
ton Place  to  the 
heart  of  East 
Liberty.* 

14.  Silver  Lake 
Playground. — Partly 
as  an  improvement 
to  Beechwood  Bou- 
levard, but  chiefly 
for  its  own  sake. 
Silver  Lake,  to- 
gether with  the  enclosing  valley  and  its  banks,  should  be  taken 
for  park  purposes.  It  is  an  attractive  spot  in  the  midst  of  a  closely 
built  up  section  which  has  no  local  parks.  Though  small,  it  could 
well  supply  much  of  the  need  for  recreation  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood. 

15.  Haights  Run  Valley.  —  Another  valley  which  should  be 
added  to  Highland  Park  is  that  of  Haights  Run.  Topographi- 
cally it  is  so  related  to  the  park  that  any  defacement  of  its  present 
beauty  by  unsightly  usage  would  greatly  injure  the  value  of  the 

*Part   II,    Section   23,    page  66. 


Lincoln  Avenue  bridge  over  Beechwood  Boulevard,   at 
Silver  Lake>   Pittsburgh 


122         PARKS    AND    RECREATION    FACILITIES 

western  portion  of  Highland  Park.  The  whole  valley,  from  its 
mouth  to  Wellesley  Avenue  and  west  to  the  top  of  the  bank, 
should  be  controlled.  A  parkway  thoroughfare  from  East  Liberty 
down  to  the  river  should  follow  this  valley.* 

i6.  Bluff  Street  Hillside.— The  precipitous  bank,  between  BluflF 
Street  at  the  top  and  Second  Avenue  and  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio 
tracks  at  the  bottom,  is  a  topographical  feature  of  much  interest 
and  beauty  in  itself  and  having,  further,  a  peculiar  value  as  a  typi- 
cal and  striking  example  of  the  natural  physical  characteristics  of 
the  Pittsburgh  District.  Commercially,  it  has  little  value,  unless 
perhaps  as  a  site  for  signs,  and  such  use  should  above  all  others 
be  guarded  against.  The  whole  bank  should  be  owned  or  con- 
trolled by  the  City  to  prevent  its  defacement  and  to  preserve  a 
natural  element  of  civic  interest  and  beauty. 

17.  Mt.  JVashington  Hillside.  —  Another  feature  of  the  same 
sort,  only  much  larger,  more  conspicuous  and  therefore  more 
important,  is  the  precipitous  hillside  south  of  the  Monongahela 
River  from  the  West  End  to  the  Castle  Shannon  incline.  Most  of 
this  slope  is  owned  by  the  Railroad,  and  it  may  be  that  an  agree- 
ment can  be  made  with  them  whereby  the  City  need  not  buy  the 
land  in  order  to  stop  eflFectually  all  defacement.  But,  whatever 
might  be  the  best  plan  for  control,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
area  in  question  should  be  preserved  intact  for  all  time  as  a 
monumental  example  of  the  Pittsburgh  landscape. 

*Part  II,   Section  25,   page  67. 


PART   V 
Special  Reports 

THE  MARKET 

TWO  conclusive  reasons  point  to  the  removal  of  the  Dia- 
mond Square  Market  from  its  present  site.  First,  it  is 
an  obstruction  at  a  vital  point  to  the  development  of  the 
thoroughfare  system  of  the  city;  second,  it  is  too  small  and  con- 
gested for  the  proper  performance  of  its  functions. 

The  ingenious  proposition  has  been  made,  in  order  to  secure 
more  space  for  the  business,  that  the  whole  of  the  square  be 
excavated  and  a  basement  or  underground  market  be  built 
extending  under  the  surrounding  streets.  This  would  permit  the 
extension  and  widening  of  Diamond  Street  and  Market  Street 
through  the  square  at  the  ground  level,  although  these  improve- 
ments were  not  contemplated  by  those  who  suggested  the  base- 
ment market.  Such  an  arrangement,  if  not  coupled  with  the 
erection  of  structures  above  ground  in  such  a  manner  as  to  inter- 
fere with  the  free  passage  of  the  two  streets  through  the  space, 
would  seem  to  meet  the  traffic  problem  ;  except  that  the  massing 
of  vehicles  and  people  on  the  surface,  in  connection  with  the 
marketing,  would  be  somewhat  objectionable. 

But  from  the  market  point  of  view  such  a  solution  seems 
wholly  unsatisfactory  and  inadequate.  There  is  no  question  that 
the  space  is  now  too  small  for  handling  the  business  in  a  com- 
fortable, sanitary  and  decent  manner,  and  the  space  now  occupied 
is  by  no  means  confined  to  the  two  old  buildings.  The  sidewalk 
stalls,  so  called,  from  which  nearly  half  the  rentals  of  the  market 
are  derived,  occupy  a  large  part  of  the  surrounding  streets,  and 
at  the  busy  hour  there  is  hardly  a  square  foot  of  those  streets 
that  is  not  in  use  by  the  dealers  or  their  customers.  To  build  a 
basement  market  occupying  the  whole  of  the  square,  after 
deducting  the  considerable  space  required  for  entrances,  stair- 
ways  or   inclines,  elevators,  piers,   ventilating   shafts,  etc.,  would 

(123) 


124  PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL   REPORTS 

not  materially  enlarge  upon  the  present  facilities;  and  it  would 
put  the  market  in  a  position  where  automatic  means  of  relief,  by 
overflow  into  the  streets  and  into  adjacent  private  stores,  would 
be  practically  impossible.  Moreover,  the  opinions  of  market- 
men  and  of  experts  on  the  values  of  retail  trade  locations  seem 
to  be  that  the  chances  are  desperately  against  the  commercial 
success  of  any  basement  or  underground  market,  no  matter  what 
skill  may  be  exercised  in  meeting  the  problems  of  lighting,  ven- 
tilation, and  means  of  access. 

In  judging  other  possible  solutions  of  this  very  perplexing 
problem  it  is  important  to  consider  the  experiences  of  other 
large  cities  of  the  northeast  states  with  the  market  business. 

With  only  two  exceptions  all  the  markets  of  Boston,  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore  and  Washington  have  become  less 
and  less  profitable  during  recent  years.  In  some  cases  the  busi- 
ness has  fallen  off  so  much  that  half  the  stalls  are  vacant,  and  in 
others  the  markets  have  had  to  be  abandoned.  The  reasons 
offered  by  market  superintendents  and  others  for  this  general 
decline,  upon  analysis,  may  be  summarized  as  follows:  (i)  With 
the  increase  in  size  of  cities  and  the  general  change  in  habits, 
retail  purchasers  find  it  increasingly  troublesome  to  go  to  a  cen- 
tral market,  and  attach  an  importance  to  the  convenience  of  pur- 
chasing from  neighboring  local  provision  dealers,  and  of  having 
the  goods  delivered.  (2)  Owing  also  to  general  changes  in  hab- 
its of  life,  especially  to  the  increasing  specialization  of  knowledge 
and  skill  of  all  kinds,  the  average  retail  purchaser  is  becoming 
constantly  less  competent  to  form  an  independent  judgment  of 
the  quality  of  provisions  offered  for  sale,  is  more  conscious  of 
this  incompetency,  and  is  more  and  more  dependent  upon  the 
reliability  of  the  dealer;  he  is  therefore  less  able  to  get  any 
advantage  from  purchasing  in  an  open  competitive  market.  This 
again  obviously  makes  for  the  advantage  of  the  local  provision 
stores.  An  index  of  this  tendency  is  the  increasing  amount  of 
ordering  by  telephone  and  otherwise  "  sight  unseen.'^ 

Both  the  above  factors,  but  especially  the  latter,  are  reflected 
in  the  fact  that  such  of  the  public  markets  as  are  faUing  off  least 
in  their  business  are  taking  on  more  of  the  character  of  wholesale 
markets  where  the  purchasers  are  experts  representing  either 
local    retail    provision    dealers,  or    hotels,  clubs  and    restaurants. 


THE    MARKET  125 

The  two  markets  which  have  proved  exceptions  to  the  gen- 
eral rule  are  the  Reading  Terminal  Market  in  Philadelphia  and 
the  Center  Market  in  Washington.  The  Reading  Terminal 
Market  is  owned  by  the  Reading  Railroad  and  is  managed  by  a 
superintendent  who  has  absolute  control.  It  has  been  built  up 
from  nothing,  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago,  to  a  flourishing  busi- 
ness at  present,  and  this  has  all  happened  in  the  face  of  the  gen- 
eral decline  in  the  market  business  throughout  this  section  of  the 
country.  Mr.  McKay,  the  superintendent,  attributes  his  success 
to  three  main  causes.  In  the  first  place,  every  consideration  pos- 
sible is  given  to  the  farmers;  stalls  are  rented  to  them  at  about 
one-third  the  prices  paid  by  city  dealers  and  they  are  never 
ousted  in  favor  of  the  latter.  Furthermore,  Mr.  McKay  spends 
considerable  time  canvassing  the  agricultural  sections  of  the 
country  within  fifty  miles  of  Philadelphia,  hobnobbing  with  the 
farmers,  getting  them  interested  in  selling  their  produce  to  the 
best  advantage  through  facilities  which  he  can  offer  them.  In 
fact  he  does  everything  possible  to  encourage  the  farmers  to 
make  use  of  the  market  both  for  their  own  advantage  and  for 
his.  In  the  second  place,  direct  railroad  connections  furnish  the 
best  possible  transportation  facilities.  Produce  can  be  collected 
from  the  surrounding  country  at  the  least  possible  cost,  and  can 
be  delivered  to  suburban  residences  much  cheaper  than  by 
independent  city  stores.  The  third  reason  for  success  is  able 
management.  The  market  business,  like  any  other,  needs  able 
management,  and  without  that  it  is  probable  that  any  market 
undertaking,  no  matter  how  favored  in  other  circumstances,  will 
run  a  large  risk  of  financial  failure. 

The  success  of  the  Center  Market  in  Washington  is  appar- 
ently due  mainly  to  the  close  relation  maintained  with  the  farmers 
and  to  its  efficient  general  management. 

It  may  be  noted  further  that  in  Germany  practically  all  the 
large  public  market  houses  have  direct  railroad  connections. 

In  Pittsburgh  the  market  business  is  apparently  flourishing; 
and  this  in  spite  of  the  facts  that  no  special  encouragement  is 
given  to  the  farmers,  that  there  are  no  direct  or  convenient  trans- 
portation facilities,  and  that  the  management  is  not  especially 
able.  Considering  the  experiences  of  other  cities,  it  is  hard  to 
account  for  this  condition,  but  it  is  only  reasonable  to  take  warn- 


126  PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 

ing  and  to  expect  a  decline  in  the  business  sooner  or  later  unless 
radical  improvements  are  made. 

It  is  to  be  considered  furthermore  that  the  city  is  not  in  the 
market  business  simply  for  the  sake  of  getting  a  little  revenue 
out  of  it.  It  is  justified  in  conducting  such  an  enterprise  only  on 
the  ground  that  it  provides  a  facility  for  the  people  which  can 
not  otherwise  be  well  and  economically  provided.  In  the  first 
instance  public  market  places  have  always  been  established  as  a 
convenient  means  of  purchasing  provisions  in  an  "  open  market," 
a  place  where  prices  are  supposed  to  be  determined  by  free  com- 
petition among  the  producers  with  the  minimum  absorption  of 
profit  by  the  agencies  roughly  indicated  by  the  term  "  middle- 
men." Under  modern  conditions,  as  the  gap  between  the  pro- 
ducer and  the  consumer  has  grown  steadily  bigger,  the  mere 
providing  of  a  convenient  vacant  space  in  the  city,  where  pro- 
ducer and  consumer  could  meet  and  do  their  bargaining,  has 
proved  utterly  insufficient.  Apparently  the  recognition  of  the 
changing  conditions  has  been  so  tardy  on  the  part  of  those 
representing  our  cities  in  the  administration  of  public  markets, 
and  their  action  so  timid  and  temporizing,  that  they  have  left  the 
bridging  of  the  gap  to  commercial  middlemen.  In  the  course  of 
the  last  two  or  three  generations,  therefore,  the  public  provision 
markets  have  become  largely  places  for  a  special  group  of  mid- 
dlemen, or  retailers,  to  display  their  wares;  in  essence  not  very 
different  from  the  natural  groupings  of  other  classes  of  retailers' 
stores  in  various  quarters  of  the  business  district. 

It  is,  therefore,  of  peculiar  interest  to  note  that  the  only  two 
public  markets  in  the  cities  investigated  which  have  not  shown  a 
decline  of  business  are  those  in  which  special,  constructive  efforts 
have  been  made,  by  the  market  administration,  to  maintain  a 
close  relation  with  the  producer  and  to  minimize  the  growing 
obstacles  that  tend  to  impede  and  complicate  and  make  costly 
the  operation  of  transferring  goods  from  him  to  the  consumer. 
Not  only  do  these  two  exceptional  markets  with  increasing 
trade  point  this  moral  very  clearly;  but  at  Boston,  where  the 
market  is  still  very  successful,  though  in  diminishing  degree 
and  with  an  increasing  emphasis  on  the  wholesale  end  of  the 
business,  the  superintendent  is  very  clear  in  his  view  that  it  is 
upon  the    facilities    offered   to    the    farmers   for   direct    sale  from 


THE    MARKET  127 

their  wagons  that  the  continued  success  of  the  market  largely 
depends. 

It  is  one  of  the  unfortunate  features  of  the  Diamond  Square 
Market  that  it  has  been  thought  necessary  to  segregate  the 
farmers'  wagons  in  another  locality,  and  a  serious  objection  to 
the  Square  as  a  permanent  market  site  Is  the  impossibility  of 
providing  for  them  in  connection  with  it.  But  while  the  farmers' 
wagons  are  important,  even  more  important  is  the  maintenance  of 
facilities  for  the  econornical  shipment,  receipt,  and  sale  of  provi- 
sions from  farmers  who  cannot  bring  their  goods  to  market  in 
their  own  wagons.  Pittsburgh  is  not  in  the  midst  of  an  ideal 
farming  country  and  an  exceptionally  large  proportion  of  its  food 
must  come  by  rail.  Even  in  Philadelphia,  where  the  immediate 
surroundings  of  the  city  are  much  better  adapted  for  the  raising 
of  provisions,  the  notable  success  of  the  Reading  Market  is 
largely  due  to  the  economical  and  convenient  arrangements  for 
getting  produce  to  market  by  rail,  and  in  Pittsburgh  such  facil- 
ities seem  almost  essential  to  any  large  and  permanent  success. 

It  seems  clear  then,  that,  if  such  a  permanent  success  is  to  be 
made  of  the  Pittsburgh  Market,  it  must  be  moved  from  Diamond 
Square  to  a  larger  site  with  rail  connections  and  room  for  farmers' 
wagons.  Several  localities  have  been  studied  with  this  idea  in 
view  and  the  best  of  them  appears  to  be,  as  recommended  earlier 
in  this  report,  between  Third  and  Fourth  Streets  and  Penn  and 
Liberty  Avenues.  The  advantages  of  the  site  briefly  are  as  fol- 
lows:  First,  it  is  not  far  from  Diamond  Square,  and  is  even  more 
accessible  from  the  cars  passing  over  the  Point  Bridge  by  which 
a  large  proportion  of  the  present  patrons  of  the  Market  appear 
to  arrive;  and  furthermore,  the  improvement  of  street  railway 
transportation  will  undoubtedly  mean  the  through-routing  of 
cars,  a  change  which  will  make  this  site  directly  accessible  also 
from  other  sections  of  the  city.  Under  the  circumstances,  to 
move  the  market  so  short  a  distance  should  not  involve  any 
serious  loss  of  trade.  Second,  the  land  and  the  buildings  are 
reasonably  cheap  although  the  frontage  is  on  Liberty  Avenue, 
one  of  the  main  arteries  of  travel  in  the  Point  District.  Third, 
the  area  is  large  enough  to  allow  a  reasonable  provision  of  space 
where  farmers  can  remain  and  sell  produce  directly  from  their 
wagons  and  not  be  forced,  as  at  present,  to  do  business  at  a  dis- 


128  PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 

tance,  on  the  Monongahela  wharf;  and  furthermore  there  is 
plenty  of  room  for  expansion  either  across  Penn  Avenue  or 
Fourth  Street.  Lastly,  in  this  location,  a  direct  connection  already 
exists,  via  the  Duquesne  Elevated,  with  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road System,  the  most  important  freight  carrier  in  the  District; 
also  the  site  is  close  to  the  Wabash  Railroad,  with  which  connec- 
tion could  be  secured  if  further  developments  of  the  road  should 
justify  it;  and  being  close  to  the  Allegheny  River  all  possible 
advantage  can  be  taken  of  river  transportation,  especially  for  the 
receipt  of  produce. 

It  should  be  noted  further  that  even  with  the  best  advantages 
of  site  and  physical  equipment  a  public  market  is  by  no  means 
sure  of  success.  More  important  probably  than  any  other  one 
element  making  for  success  is  able  and  stable  management.  The 
market  business  is  a  large,  intricate  and  many-sided  business ;  and 
it  is  not  reasonable  to  expect  any  very  brilliant  results  under  the 
management  of  a  succession  of  superintendents  rotating  in  office 
with  political  changes  in  the  City  Government,  and  not  selected 
because  of  any  special  qualifications  of  experience  or  great  busi- 
ness ability.  A  highly  competent  superintendent  holding  his  office 
during  good  behavior  will  be  essential  to  the  success  of  the  new 
market  in  Pittsburgh. 

THE    HUMP    CUT 

The  purpose  of  this  improvement,  upon  the  successful  attain- 
ment of  which  the  plans  must  be  judged,  appears  to  be  twofold  ; 
(i)  To  reduce  the  obstacle  offered  by  the  Hump  to  the  general 
street  traffic  of  the  city,  and  (2)  to  reduce  the  obstacle  which 
appears  to  be  offered  by  the  steep  gradients  to  the  expansion  of 
the  district  available  for  high-class  retail  trade  and  offices. 

The  former  is  the  larger  consideration  as  regards  the  whole 
city.  The  latter  is  the  main  consideration  as  regards  the  locality 
itself  and  the  interests  of  the  owners  of  land  therein. 

The  plan  of  the  Bureau  of  Surveys,  marked  "Approved 
December  23,  1909,"  shows  proposed  gradients  on  the  east  and 
west  streets  ranging  from  4.75  per  cent  on  Sixth  Avenue  to  5.88 
per  cent  on  Diamond  Street,  Fifth  Avenue  being  5.52  per  cent. 
On    Grant    Street    the    maximum    gradient    is    proposed    to    be 


THE   HUMP  CUT  129 

reduced  from  4.8  per  cent  to  4.6  per  cent.  While  these  proposed 
gradients  are  undesirably  heavy,  it  is  believed  that  they  would  not 
in  themselves  oflFer  a  very  serious  obstacle  to  the  advance  of  first- 
class  business  into  the  Hump  District  if  for  other  reasons  the 
growth  should  tend  in  that  direction.  Further,  for  automobiles, 
electric  cars  and  light  horse-drawn  carriages  the  proposed  gradi- 
ents, while  objectionable,  are  not,  in  view  of  the  topography  of 
Pittsburgh,  very  excessive.  Such  gradients,  however,  are  prohibi- 
tive to  economical  teaming.  They  will  be  avoided  by  teamsters 
at  the  expense  of  a  long  detour  if  they  can  find  a  route  of  low 
gradient,  and  if  there  is  no  such  route  they  mean  the  hauling  of 
smaller  loads,  the  making  of  more  trips  to  do  the  same  work, 
and  a  very  appreciable  tax  upon  the  public,  paid  in  the  cost  of 
coal,  building  material,  household  supplies,  etc. 

Almost  at  first  sight  there  appear  two  important  lines  of 
travel  which  might  naturally  be  expected  to  pass  through  the 
Hump  District,  and  which  would  be  seriously  aflFected  by  gradi- 
ents as  heavy  as  those  remaining  under  the  Bureau  of  Surveys' 
plan.  One  is  that  leading  from  the  Point  District  and  from  prac- 
tically all  the  freight  yards  into  the  valley  occupied  by  Fifth 
Avenue  and  Forbes  Street.  A  second  line  which  may  be  ex- 
pected to  have  great  importance  is  one  connecting  Second  Avenue 
east  of  Try  Street  with  Liberty  and  Penn  Avenues  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  Union  Station — in  other  words,  the  most  easterly  line  upon 
which  a  connection  of  easy  gradient  can  be  secured  between  the 
two  valleys.  The  improvement  of  Forbes  Street  as  the  main 
artery  of  a  large  east-bound  thoroughfare  system,  the  location  of 
the  trafiic  artery  to  the  South  Hills  region — the  high-level  bridge 
and  tunnel — and  the  location  of  the  proposed  Municipal  Building 
and  Civic  Center,  which  are  all  recommended  in  Parts  I  and  II  of 
this  report,  must  inevitably  add  greatly  to  the  importance  of  this 
region  behind  the  Hump  as  a  distributing  point  for  traffic.  Sixth 
Avenue,  especially  the  diagonal  portion,  Fifth  Avenue  and  Dia- 
mond Street  are  the  thoroughfare  lines  to  this  point.  Considered 
together  with  other  improvements  of  the  down  town  district. 
Diamond  Street  becomes  perhaps  the  most  important  line  over 
the  Hump.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the  city  as  a  whole,  any 
plan  for  cutting  the  Hump  which  does  not  secure  reasonable 
gradients  on  these  thoroughfares  must  be  regarded  as  ineffective. 


J 


_-___i 

|2^-g-i 

rOURTM 

GENERAL  L°       \       ^- 


"ClVlC 


PlTTSBunSM  CIVIC  COMMISSION 

PLAN   FOR  THE   PROPOSED 
HUMP  CUT 

SCALE 


KtY- 

AMOUNT  or   CUT  AT  STREtT  INTCRSECTrONS 
SHOWN  TMU3 


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(130) 


THE    HUMP    CUT 


131 


The  accompanying  plan  and  profiles  indicate  the  area  and 
amount  of  cut  which  appears  to  be  the  least  that  should  be  under- 
taken.   The  area  is  practically  the  same  as  that  proposed  on  the 


Bureau  of  Surveys'  plan  of  December,  1909;  the  cut  at  certain 
places,  however,  is  considerably  deeper.  A  cut  of  11.3  feet  at 
Grant  and  Diamond  Streets  gives  a  maximum  gradient  of  4.75 


132  PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 

per  cent  on  the  latter;  a  cut  of  14.3  feet  at  Grant  Street  and 
Fifth  Avenue  gives  a  maximum  gradient  of  4.74  per  cent  on  Fifth 
Avenue;  and  a  cut  of  8.9  feet  at  Webster  and  Sixth  Avenues 
gives  a  maximum  gradient  of  4.34  per  cent  on  the  latter  and  3.4 
per  cent  on  the  Grant  Street-Sixth  Avenue  cross-town  route. 
These  gradients  are  certainly  not  ideal,  but  it  is  believed  that 
they  are  good  enough  to  justify  the  undertaking,  and  deeper  cuts 
are  not  urged  chiefly  because  the  area  of  cut  would  thereby 
be  extended  further  into  abutting  regions  where  little  or  no 
benefit  could  be  assessed  and  practically  no  damage  -  waivers 
could  be  obtained;  the  cost  of  the  undertaking  being  thereby 
inordinately  increased. 

On  Grant  and  Ross  Streets  the  maximum  gradients  proposed 
are  about  4.5  per  cent,  not  excessive  for  lines  which  are  not  of 
the  first  importance.  There  is  little  advantage  in  extending  the 
cutting  any  further  on  Wylie  Avenue  than  is  forced  by  the  cut  on 
Sixth  Avenue,  for  there  is  no  object  in  securing  an  easy  gradient 
at  one  point  when  the  gradient  just  beyond  is  over  7  per  cent  and 
cannot  well  be  improved.  The  same  applies  to  Webster  Avenue 
east  of  Tunnel  Street,  but  it  must  be  cut  heavily  at  this  point 
partly  on  account  of  the  cut  at  Sixth  Avenue  and  partly  to  pro- 
vide a  good  gradient  on  the  extension  of  Grant  Boulevard. 

The  extension  of  Grant  Boulevard  and  the  widening  of  Web- 
ster Avenue  from  Tunnel  Street  to  Grant  Street,  the  widening  of 
Strawberry  Way  and  Oliver  Avenue  and  the  widening  of  Sixth 
Avenue  and  Diamond  Street  have  been  recommended  in  the  first 
part  of  this  report.  It  is  further  recommended:  (i)  that  Fifth 
Avenue  between  Ross  and  Grant  Streets  be  widened  to  60  feet  ; 
(2)  that  Cherry  Alley  be  widened  to  50  feet  between  Fifth 
Avenue  and  Sixth  Avenue,  and  (3)  that  the  westerly  corner  of 
Sixth  Avenue  and  Grant  Street  be  cut  of¥  enough  to  allow  the 
passage  of  one  line  of  vehicles  between  the  curb  and  a  car  round- 
ing the  corner.  These  changes  should  all  be  incorporated  in  any 
general  plan  for  cutting  and  improving  the  Hump  District. 


THE    CITY   AND    THE    ALLEGHENY 
RIVER    BRIDGES 

Recommendations  for  Bridge  Heights  and  Pier  Location, 
to  Meet  the  Various  Transportation  Needs  of  Pittsburgh 

By  Colonel  Thomas  W.  Symons 
AND  Frederick   Law  Olmsted 

INTRODUCTION 

March  15th,  1910,  upon  recommendation  of  the  Committee 
on  City  Planning,  the  Pittsburgh  Civic  Commission  authorized 
Colonel  Thomas  W.  Symons,  Corps  Engineers,  U.  S.  A.  retired, 
and  Mr.  Frederick  Law  Olmsted  to  make  a  report  upon  desirable 
heights  and  pier  locations  for  bridges  over  the  Allegheny  River. 
The  purpose  of  the  Commission  was  to  secure  a  report  which 
weighed  the  interests  of  all  parties  to  the  bridge  question,  and 
which  would  strike  a  balance  to  meet  the  various  transportation 
needs  of  Pittsburgh. 

The  Commission  asked  the  Committee  on  City  Planning  to 
direct  the  preparation  of  the  report.  The  Committee  consists  of 
T.  E.  Billquist,  chairman;  Charles  F.  Chubb,  H.  J.  Heinz, 
Benno  Janssen,  Richard  Kiehnel,  E.  K.  Morse.  This  committee 
passed  upon  the  report  April  i8th  and  recommended  it  to 
the  Commission  for  adoption.  On  April  25th  the  Commission 
received  and  adopted  the  report  and  voted  their  hearty  apprecia- 
tion of  the  work  of  Colonel  Symons,  Mr.  Olmsted  and  the  Com- 
mittee on  City  Planning.    This  report  was  published  separately  in 

May  1910. 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

I.  That  the  Sixteenth  Street  and  Forty-third  Street  bridges, 
which  are  obstructions  to  navigation  on  account  of  their  pier 
locations,  narrow  channels,  and  exceptionally  low  clearance  height, 
be  required  to  be  rebuilt  with  their  piers  so  located  as  to 
give  channels  conforming  to  the  neighboring  bridges,  and  that 
their  elevation  be  fixed  with  regard  to  ehminating  the  railroad 
grade  crossings  on  their  approaches,  but  the  minimum  clearance 
shall  be  fixed  in  accordance  with  the  closing  paragraph  below. 

(133) 


134  PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 

2.  That  the  Ninth  Street  bridge  should  be  rebuilt  as  soon  as 
practicable  with  a  central  pier  and  two  wide  spans  conforming 
to  those  of  the  Sixth  Street  and  Seventh  Street  bridges.  The 
design  of  the  new  Ninth  Street  bridge,  however,  should  not  be 
finally  determined  and  erection  begun  until  a  definite  plan  for 
comprehensiv-e  improvements  in  the  traction  system  between  the 
two  sides  of  the  river  has  been  decided  upon.  Unless  new  circum- 
stances develop  before  the  construction  of  this  bridge  is  begun 
that  materially  affect  the  problem  of  clearance  height,  the  eleva- 
tion should  be  fixed  in  accordance  with  the  closing  paragraph 
below. 

3.  That  all  questions  pertaining  to  changing  the  elevation 
of  the  Sixth  Street,  Seventh  Street,  Fort  Wayne,  Thirtieth  Street 
and  Junction  Railroad  bridges  be  deferred  to  await  the  report  of 
the  Pittsburgh  Flood  Commission  and  the  resultant  action;  to 
await  the  report  on  a  comprehensive  plan  for  traction  improve- 
ments;  to  await  the  completion  of  the  work  projected  by  the 
City  in  cutting  down  some  streets  and  filling  others;  and  to  await 
the  results  of  the  investigation  of  river  boat  design  and  construc- 
tion provided  for  in  the  River  and  Harbor  bill  just  passed  by 
Congress. 

4.  That  if  it  is  deemed  essential  and  necessary  at  present  to 
decide  upon  the  elevation  to  which  all  Allegheny  River  bridges 
must  be  made  to  conform,  this  elevation  be  fixed  so  that  there 
shall  be  a  clear  head  room  of  substantially  37  feet  above  pool 
level,  varied  so  as  to  give  at  each  bridge  a  clear  head  room  of  28 
feet  when  the  river  is  at  a  15  foot  flood  stage.  This  height  to  be 
maintained  over  the  entire  main  span  where  there  is  a  central 
span  and  for  180  feet  on  each  side  of  the  central  pier  where  there 
is  a  central  pier. 

FULL   REPORT 

April  19th,  1910 
The  Pittsburgh  Civic  Commission  : 

Gentlemen:  In  accordance  with  your  expressed  desire  we  have 
examined  into  the  bridge  problem  on  the  Allegheny  River  now 
before  the  City,  particularly  in  regard  to  the  use  of  the  bridges 
and  their  connections  with  the  streets  of  the  city  and  the  use  of 
the  river  for  harbor  and  navigation  purposes,  and  beg  to  submit 
the  following  report  thereon : 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES 


135 


German  side-wheel  boat,  common  on  European  rivers 


There  are  three  great  interests  concerned  in  the  problem  of 
the  bridges  over  the  Allegheny  River  at  Pittsburgh:  (i)  those 
who  frequently  cross  the  river  or  whose  business  requires  the 
transportation  of 
workmen,  raw  and 
manufactured  ma- 
terial, and  supplies 
from  one  side  of 
the  river  to  the 
other;  (2)  those 
concerned  in  the 
navigation  of  the 
river  and  harbor, 
and  (3)  those  who 
own  and  operate 
the  bridges. 

In  the  hearings 
recently  held  on 
the  subject  much  consideration  has  been  given  to  the  bridge 
owners  and  the  navigation  interests  but  comparatively  little  atten- 
tion has  been  given,  at  first  hand,  to  the  interests  of  the  general 
public,  who  in  great  numbers  are  interested  in  transportation 
across  the  river  and  for  whose  service  both  the  bridges  and  river 
transportation  exist. 

It  is  quite  apparent,  from  a  study  of  the  situation  and  the 
interests  involved,  that  changes  might  be  demanded  in  the 
bridges  which 
would  give  some 
added  advantage  to 
river  navigation, 
but  yet  would  place 
so  great  a  burden 
upon  the  interests 
concerned  in  cross- 
ing the  river  that 
the  result  would  be 
a  net  loss  to  the 
general  public.  The 
following     are    the 


Design  of  boat  for  American  rivers,  adapted  from 
European  models 


136 


PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 


two  extreme  positions  somewhere  between  which  all  concerned 
would  agree  that  a  balance  of  interests  most  beneficial  to  the 
general  public  must  be  determined  : 

From  the  viewpoint  of  traffic  across  the  river  the  b  est 
arrangement  would  be  level  bridges  at  the  grade  of  the  connect- 
ing   streets,  regardless    of   river    traffic.     The    more    bridges    are 

raised    above    that 

standard,  apart 
from  any  question 
of  first  cost,  the 
greater  will  be  the 
interference  with 
travel  across  the 
river,  up  to  the 
point  of  prohibi- 
tive grades  on  the 
bridges  and  their 
approaches.  Be- 
fore   this    point   is 

Wharf  at  Cologne,  showing  heights  of  boats  reached     draw- 

bridges must  be  considered  which,  while  often  required  and 
adopted,  are  objectionable  to  the  interests  using  the  bridges  and 
those  passing  under  or  through  the  bridges. 

From  the  viewpoint  of  the  river  interests  the  most  complete 
improvement  would  be  to  do  away  with  the  bridges  entirely,  thus 
giving  absolute  freedom  of  navigation.  This  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. The  next  best  thing  from  that  point  of  view  would  be  to 
change  the  bridges  to  one  span  each  across  the  river  from  bank 
to  bank  with  height  enough  for  passage  beneath  of  the  highest 
floating  structures  at  all  stages  of  the  river.  This  would  be  im- 
practicable without  remodeling  the  city  along  both  sides  of  the 
river  for  long  distances  from  the  banks  at  an  expense  so  great 
as  to  be  almost  beyond  computation.  Anything  less  than  this  will 
impose,  at  least  in  theory,  some  hindrance  upon  river  navigation, 
and  this  hindrance  will  be  greater  in  amount  as  the  head  room  is 
decreased  and  as  piers  are  introduced  into  the  river. 

The  aim  in  arriving  at  a  solution  of  the  bridge  problem  must 
be  to  adjust  these  conflicting  interests  impartially ;  and  the  factors 
to  be  considered    In  arriving  at    such   an    adjustment    are    these : 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES 


137 


First,  the  amount  and  importance  of  the  traffic  likely  to  be 
affected  in  each  case.  Second,  the  extent  to  which  any  given  solu- 
tion would  benefit  or  injure  the  bridge  traffic  and  the  river  traffic, 
respectively. 

I.  Amount  and  Importance  of  Traffic  Affected. — {a")  Bridge  Traffic, 
— There  are  in  question  six  highway  bridges  and  two  railroad 
bridges. 

Before  referring  to  the  statistics  in  regard  to  traffic  over 
these  bridges  we  wish  to  point  out  that  much  the  greater  part  of 
it  is  of  a  kind  daily  and  intimately  affecting  the  business  and  the 
convenience  of  a  large  population.  Any  delay  affecting  the  trans- 
portation of  passengers  over  any  of  these  bridges,  and  any  delay 
or  any  increase  of  cost  in  teaming  package  freight  and  supplies 
from  freight  stations  and  warehouses  and  stores  on  one  side  of 
the  river  to  their  destination  on  the  other  side,  would  be  felt  very 
sharply  by  a  considerable  fraction  of  the  manufacturers,  merchants 
and  other  citizens  of  Pittsburgh.  The  inconvenience  arising  from 
any  interference  with  traffic  of  this  class  would  clearly  be  greater 
in  proportion  to  the  volume  and  value  of  the  traffic  than  in  the 
case  of  the  slower   moving  river  traffic.     Ten  minutes'   delay  to 


UNDEB  BPIDGI^S 


OVER  BRIDGES 


TONNAGE  IN  MILLIONS 


2M4J98 

2S2&270 

IMbiilO 

I     865.024 

714.856 


5DaH5T. 

NINTH5T. 
FT  WAYNE 
THIRTIETH  5T. 
JUNCTION  RR 
rODTYTHICPST 


I4/32W0 

24J3S382 

511090 


PASSENGERS  IN  MILLIONS 


ZbbDO 

xab7 

24,4«e 
9/176 

r*3i 


SLVniST     p09iZ9> 

NINTH  ST. 

n.  WAYNt 
TtllPTIETHST 
JUNCTION  RR. 
rORTYTHIRDSt 


'«i5900 
4.57  MSA 
715.J8S 
n7.iM 


UNDEB  BBIDGIW  OVEB  BRIDGES. 

Diagram  No.  i,  showing  comparative  importance  of  traffic  over  and  under 
Allegheny  river  bridges 


138 


PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL   REPORTS 


people  in  reaching  their  offices  or  an  hour's  delay  beyond  the 
expected  time  in  the  delivering  of  household  food  supplies  or 
express  packages,  etc.,  for  a  number  of  families,  is  a  much  more 
serious  matter  than    a  corresponding  or  even  a  greater  delay  in 

the    delivery  of    a 


barge-load  of 
gravel  or  coal, 
even  though  the 
barge-load  were  of 
equal  value  with 
the  delayed  lot  of 
supplies. 

Details  in  re- 
gard to  the  volume 
of  traffic  over  the 
bridges  and  esti- 
mates of  the  value 
of  the  goods  trans- 
ported and  the 
e  quipment  en- 
gaged in  the  traffic 
are  given  in  Ap- 
pendix I  and  are 
summarized  in 
graphical  form  in 
Diagrams  i,  2  and 
3.  The  amount 
and  importance  of 
bridge  traffic  may 
be  summarized  by 
stating  that  there 
passes  over  the 
existing  Allegheny  River  bridges  each  year  about  108,000,000 
tons  of  traffic  roughly  valued  at  $9,350,000,000;  and  about  62,700,- 
000   human  beings,  passengers  and  pedestrians. 

{b)  River  Traffic. — The  data  in  regard  to  existing  navigation 
under  the  Allegheny  bridges  consist  of  detailed  reports  of  vessels 
and  cargoes  passing  Dam  No.  i  and  counts  of  the  number  of 
vessels  passing  under  the  several    bridges   during    representative 


fNDER  HRrUoU 


comparatim:  diagram  showing 
lotal  tonnage  ovxr  and  under 
the  alleghent  river  bhidge,s. 


TO    ACCOMPANY   REPORT  OF 
COL,  THOMAS  W.  j\  MON9. 
FREDERICK   LAW   OLMSTED. 


NQ2 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES 


139 


$9,366,973,935 


periods  of  from  one  to  two  months  in  1909.  From  these  data  we 
have  estimated  the  annual  river  traffic  under  each  of  the  bridges, 
and  very  roughly,  its  value.*  These  amounts  are  shown  graphi- 
cally in  comparison  with  the  corresponding  figures  for  traffic  over 
the  bridges  in  Dia- 
grams I,  2  and  3. 
To  briefly  sum- 
marize, it  may  be 
stated  that  the  river 
traffic  of  the  Alle- 
gheny River  in  one 
year  amounts  in  the 
aggregate  to  about 
3,500,000  tons,  in- 
cluding all  freight 
carriers  and  power 
boats,  roughly 
valued  at  about 
$105,000,000;  and 
about  35, 000  human 
beings,  passengers 
by  boat. 

It  seems  well 
here  to  note  that 
the  water-borne 
traflic  of  the  Alle- 
gheny River  has 
been  steadily  de- 
creasing for  many 
years  and  is  now 
but  a  small  portion 
of  that  which  once 

existed.  That  this  decHne  in  river  traffic  is  not  due  to  the  interfer- 
ence of  the  bridges  is  shown  by  the  statement  that  the  navigation 
faciUties  are  better  than  ever  before.  It  is  due  to  the  lack  of  mod- 
ern terminal  facilities,  boats  and  methods  of  carrying  on  business. 
There  is  a  possibility  that,  in  case  improved  conditions  are 
provided  for  Allegheny  River  navigation,  the  amount  thereof  may 

*Appen(lix  II. 


Z"^, 


OVER   BRIDGES 


COMPARATIN^E  DIAGRA^U  SHOWING 
TOTAL  VALUL  OF  TRAFFIC  OVER 
AND  UNDER  THE  ALLEGHENY  RIVER 
BRIDGES. 

TO    ACCOMPANY   REPORT  OF 
FREDERICK   LAW   OtMSTCD. 


N0.3 


140 


PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 


increase  with  the  lapse  of  years,  but  for  the  reasons  set  forth  in 
Appendix  II,  this  increase  is  not  likely  to  be  so  great  in  relation 
to  the  natural  increase  of  the  bridge  traffic  as  to  render  the  com- 
parison of  the  existing  facts  in  Diagrams  i,  2  and  3  inapplicable 
to  the  future. 

(c)  Comparison  of  'Bridge  and  River  Traffic. — To  sum  up,  it 
may  be  said  that  each  year  the  amount  of  traffic  passing  over  the 
bridges  is  at  least  30  times  that  floating  on  the  water  of  the  river, 
and    about    90   times   its    value.    The    passenger    traffic    over    the 


Pari^  passenger  and   freight  boats 

bridges  is  about  1800  times  that  on  the  water.  The  character  of 
the  traffic  over  the  bridges  is  such  that  a  given  degree  of  interfer- 
ence with  it  is  a  far  more  serious  annoyance  to  the  public  than  the 
same  degree  of  interference  with  river  traffic. 

2.  Effect  of  Various  Solutions. — It  remains  to  be  considered  to 
what  degree  the  bridge  traffic  and  the  river  traffic  would  be 
hampered  or  facilitated  by  various  permanent  solutions  of  the 
bridge  problem.  With  a  view  to  arriving  at  a  plan  as  nearly 
ideal  as  the  circumstances  permit  for  a  permanent  arrangement 
of  bridges  over  the  Allegheny  River,  various  projects  have  been 
put  forward  and  considered.  These  concern  two  nearly  indepen- 
dent matters,  the  elevation  of  the  bridges  above  pool  level  and 
the  location  and  design  of  the  bridge  piers.  The  former  must 
be    decided  with  regard  to  the  eflfect  upon  both  bridge  and  river 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES 


141 


traffic;  the  latter  may  be  determined  with  regard  solely  to  the 
navigation  interests,  giving  due  consideration  to  the  cost  and  the 
appearance  of  the  resulting  bridges,  as  discussed  below. 

The  plan  upon  which  interest  is  now  most  centered  is  that 
officially  recommended  by  the  local  office  of  the  United  States 
Engineer  Corps.  We  shall  consider  the  eflFect  of  the  bridge 
heights  proposed 
in  this  plan  as  com- 
pared with  certain 
modifications  there- 
of;  first,  upon  the 
bridge  traffic,  and 
second,  upon  the 
river  traffic. 

(a)  Effect  of  Fa- 
rious  Possible  'Bridge 
Heights  upon  the 
Traffic  over  the 
'Bridges.  —  High  way 
Bridges. — The  high- 
way bridges  carry 
two  principal 
classes  of  travel. 
The  first  consists 
of  vehicles  moved 
by  power,  electric 
cars  and  automo- 
biles, and  of  pedes- 
trians. With  this  class  an  increase  of  gradient  on  the  bridges 
or  their  approaches,  within  reasonable  limits,  simply  means  the 
expenditure  of  a  moderate  amount  of  additional  energy  without 
material  loss  of  time,  or  other  difficulties.  The  second  class 
consists  of  horse-drawn  vehicles  a  large  portion  of  which  do  not 
enter  the  hill  districts  but  are  limited  in  their  movements  to  the 
large  district  lying  on  the  lowlands  of  the  three  river  valleys  or 
accessible  therefrom  on  moderate  gradients.  A  great  deal  of  this 
teaming  consists  of  freight  of  all  kinds  received  or  shipped  at 
the  numerous  freight  stations  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  The 
area  accessible  on  roads  of  easy  gradient  from  each  end  of  these 


Barge  and   tovvboat  designed    for  shallow  rivers  and   low 
bridgres  in  the  United  States 


142 


PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 


bridges  is  very  great  and  includes  nearly  all  the  important  indus- 
trial plants  in  Pittsburgh  as  well  as  all  the  freight  stations  and 
the  principal  warehouses,  retail  stores  and  other  commercial  estab- 
lishments of  Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny.  Any  considerable  increase 
of  gradient  on  these  bridges  means  a  reduction  in  average  size  of 
load  hauled  by  vehicles  of  this  important  class,  and  a  corre- 
sponding increase  in  the  number  of  trips  and  in  the  number  of 
teams  required  to  do  the  work,  making  for  increased  cost  and 
greater  congestion  of  traffic.  For  all  horse-drawn  vehicles  an 
increase  of  gradient  on  the  bridges,  beyond  a  certain  limit,  means, 
especially  in  wet  or  snowy  or  frosty  weather,  more  slipping  and 
falling,  more  stalling  of  all  bridge  traffic  by  such  accidents,  more 
wear  and  tear  on  horse  flesh,  and  a  resultant  increased  burden 
on  the  people.  To  raise  the  gradient  of  the  bridges  from  those 
now  existing  to  those  indicated  in  the  plans  of  the  local  United 
States  Engineers'  office  would  more  than  double  the  traction 
effort  required  in  hauling  over  these  bridges. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that,  as  the  gradients  increase,  the 
cost  of  teaming  and  the  wear  and  tear  on  teams  increases  much 
more  rapidly  than  the  theoretical  effective  horse  power,  because 
of  the  increased  difficulty  of  foothold.  It  is  impossible  to  measure 
the  effect  of  any  given  increase  of  grade  with  precision,  but  a 
comparison  of  the  existing  conditions  with  those  resulting  from 
various  possible  bridge  heights  will  give  a  good  general  idea  of 
the  effect  as  shown  by  the  following  tables : 


Table   Showing   Bridge   Grades   Involved  by  the   Adoption   of 
Various   Clearance    Heights 


Elevation  in  feet  above  pool  level 
of  under  side  of  bridge  over  360' 
channel. 


Sixth  Street  bridge  . 
Seventh  Street  bridge 
Ninth  Street  bridge 


Present 


tMaximum  gradients 


2.3% :  3-2% 

3-o%  '  3-7% 
2.8%  '  3  5% 


4-5% 
5% 
5% 


Present 


Amount  of  rise  in  feet  above 
Duquesne  Way 


5-8%*  7-5 
6.3%*  10.0 
6.5%*     10. 1 


10.4 

154 

14.2 

19.2 

13.3 

18.3 

20.4 
24.2 

23.3 


*  Gradients  for  this  clearance  height  are  greater  than  those  shown  on  United  States 
Engineers'  plans  because  of  greater  width  of  channel.  If  United  States  Engineers'  plans 
were  adopted  the  maximum  gradients  would  be  as  follows:  Sixth  Street,  4.35%;  Seventh 
Street,  4.93%,  and  Ninth  Street,  4.98%. 

tThe  maximum  gradients  here  given  assume  the  improvement  of  the  short  pitches  now 
existing  on  some  of  the  bridge  approaches. 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES 


143 


Table   Showing   Effective    Energy    Required  to   Overcome    Rise   over 
Bridges    at   Various   Heights 


Elevation     in     feet 
above    pool     level     of 
under    side    of    bridge 
over  360'  channel. 

Present 

37' 

42'                          47' 

Tons  per  annum 

Foot  tons  of  effective  energy 

Sixth  Street  bridge  . 
Ninth  Street  bridge 

13,240,010 
14,732,130 

99,300,075 
151.740,939 

1 
137,696,104      203,896,154       270,096,204 

195,937,329    [269,597,979       343,258,629 

Per  cent  of  increase  of  effective  energy  required 

Sixth  Street  bridge  . 
Ninth  Street  bridge 

38.6%        '       105.3% 
i         29.1%                 77.7% 

172.0% 
126.2% 

At  the  Sixth  Street  bridge  there  is  at  present  an  undesirably 
steep  gradient*  on  the  Allegheny,  or  North  Side,  approach,  but 
it  is  only  230  feet  long  and  being  paved  with  stone  gives  a  good 
foothold  for  horses.  This  is  to  be  greatly  benefited  by  filling  up 
the  street  with  material  taken  from  the  "Hump"  grading,  the 
plans  on  file  in  the  City  Bureau  of  Construction  providing  for 
an  improved  gradient  of  only  2.22  per  cent.  Many  of  the 
abutters  have  already  waived  their  damages  and  there  is  no  ques- 
tion that  the  improvement  will  be  made.  The  present  bridge 
gradients  and  those  of  the  Pittsburgh  approach  are  less  than  3 
per  cent.  At  the  Seventh  Street  bridge  the  gradients  do  not 
exceed  3  per  cent,  except  on  the  Allegheny  approach  where  it  is 
now  being  reduced  to  2  per  cent.  At  Ninth  Street,  while  the 
present  bridge  gradients  do  not  exceed  2.8  per  cent,  there  is  a 
short  pitch  about  100  feet  long  in  the  approach  on  the  Allegheny 
side  with  a  grade  of  5.24  per  cent.f  A  small  amount  of  regrad- 
ing,  involving  no  heavy  property  damages,  will  suffice  to  reduce 
these  gradients  to  1.3  per  cent,  and  appropriations  for  this 
improvement  have  already  been  made  by  the  City. 

The  existing  grades  at  the  Sixteenth  Street,  Thirtieth  Street 
and  Forty-third  Street  bridges  are  light,  but  it  is  not  important 
to  consider  these  bridges  in  detail  in  this  connection  as  it  is 
probable  that  the  necessity  for  eliminating  railroad  grade  cross- 

*3.64  per  cent  (United  States  Engineers'  Office)  or  4.0  per  cent.  (City  Bureau  of 
Construction.) 

t  Given  as  6.35  per  cent  on  United  States  Engineers'  Sections. 


144  PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 

ings  will  sooner  or  later  alter  the  existing  approaches  in  such 
a  manner  that  the  resulting  gradients  would  not  be  further 
increased  by  raising  the  bridges.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that 
the  precise  elevations  recommended  by  the  local  office  of  the 
United  States  Engineers  for  these  bridges  would  involve  serious 
complications  with  the  railroad  tracks. 

In  many  cities  having  similarly  situated  level  business  and 
manufacturing  districts  along  rivers,  very  large  sums  of  money 
have  been  spent  to  reduce  the  gradients  on  the  connecting 
bridges  to  less  than  3  per  cent,  and  that  figure  is  rather  generally 
regarded  by  engineers  as  a  maximum  upon  important  traffic 
bridges. 

People  in  Pittsburgh  are  so  accustomed  to  steep  gradients 
in  the  adjacent  hill  districts  that  they  are  apt  to  ignore  the  fact 
that  there  is  a  city  within  their  city,  and  that  this  inner  manufac- 
turing and  business  city  is  closely  confined  to  the  long  drawn-out, 
irregular,  level  river-bottoms  and  is  much  freer  from  hills  than 
New  York,  almost  as  much  so  as  Chicago. 

The  city  has  expressed  its  willingness  to  spend  a  large  sum 
of  money  and  undergo  great  inconvenience  for  the  sake  of  a 
moderate  reduction  in  the  street  gradients  of  the  "  Hump  "  at 
one  of  the  gateways  of  the  hill  districts.  Important  as  this  work 
is,  it  cannot  be  compared  for  a  moment  as  a  matter  of  traffic 
improvement  with  the  importance  attaching  to  easy  gradients  on 
the  bridges,  for  the  streets  of  the  "Hump"  district  lead  in  the 
main  from  the  flat  part  of  the  city  to  the  hilly  part  where  average 
loads  are  limited  by  the  prevailing  steep  gradients,  whereas  rhe 
bridges  lie  between  two  parts  of  the  level  industrial  and  com- 
mercial city.  If  at  low  gradients  they  serve  to  unite  them;  if  at 
high  gradients  they  divide  them. 

Railroad  'Bridges. — In  so  far  as  any  changes  in  the  railroad 
bridges  produce  conditions  less  convenient  and  expeditious  for 
handling  the  business  which  the  people  have  to  do  with  the  rail- 
road, the  public  has  a  direct  concern  in  the  matter. 

With  regard  to  the  Junction  Railroad  bridge  of  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio  Railroad  System,  the  raising  proposed  by  the 
local  office  of  the  United  States  Engineers,  appears  to  involve  no 
serious  difficulties  in  operation  which  would  aflFect  the  general 
public  or  the  shippers. 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES  145 

With  regard  to  the  Pittsburgh,  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago 
bridge  of  the  Pennsylvania  System,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  this  is  a 
double-deck  bridge,  the  upper  tracks  being  used  principally  by 
passenger  trains  and  the  lower  tracks  by  freight  trains  almost 
exclusively  devoted  to  local  freight  business.  The  most  serious 
consideration  affecting  this  bridge  is  that  any  very  considerable 
raising  of  the  level  of  the  lower  tracks  would  throw  them  out  of 
connection  with  the  important  local  freight  station  to  which  those 
tracks  run.  Even  if  expense  of  reconstruction  be  wholly  disre- 
crarded  we  believe  no  way  can  be  devised  by  which  the  freight 
tracks  of  the  Fort  Wayne  bridge,  if  raised  as  proposed  by  the 
local  office  of  the  United  States  Engineers  can  be  connected  with 
the  freight  station  and  industrial  plants  without  involving  greatly 
increased  difficulty  and  delay  in  the  handling  of  freight  either  on 
the  tracks  or  in  the  station  itself  or  in  the  teaming  approaches  to 
the  station.  When  the  large  volume  of  local  traffic  handled  at 
this  station  is  considered,  it  is  apparent  that  such  a  radical  change 
is  a  serious  matter  for  shippers  and  the  great  manufacturing  and 
commercial  industries  of  the  city.  Other  than  the  expense  of 
making  changes  in  the  bridge  and  its  approaches  no  serious 
difficulty  stands  in  the  way  of  raising  the  clearance  of  the  main 
span  of  the  Fort  Wayne  bridge  2  or  3  feet  to  about  37  feet  above 
pool  level.  To  go  above  that  figure  involves  the  serious  objec- 
tions discussed  above. 

{b)  Effect  of  Different  Bridge  Heights  Upon  River  Traffic— The 
effect  upon  river  navigation  of  any  standard  that  may  be  adopted 
for  the  heights  of  bridges  depends  upon  the  heights  of  the  ves- 
sels using  the  river  and  the  fluctuations  of  the  river  level  itself. 
(See  Diagrams  4  and  5.) 

By  means  of  Davis  Island  Dam  in  the  Ohio  River  the  water 
of  Pittsburgh  harbor  is  now  kept  practically  at  a  minimum  stage 
of  six  feet  above  the  datum  of  zero  at  natural  low  water.  This  is 
the  prevailing  water  level  for  the  greater  portion  of  the  year. 
Floods  come  occasionally,  produced  by  rains  and  melting  snows, 
and,  of  course,  with  the  floods  come  increased  current  velocities. 
These  current  velocities  of  each  river  depend  upon  the  source  of 
the  flood.  When  the  flood  comes  down  the  Allegheny  River  high 
velocities  result.  When  the  flood  comes  down  the  Monongahela 
the  high  water  in  the  Allegheny  is   back-water  without  excessive 


146 


PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 


currents.  Under  this  condition  the  Allegheny  becomes  a  harbor 
of  refuge  for  Monongahela  commerce ;  and  the  reverse  is  true 
that  in  an  Allegheny  River  flood  the  Monongahela  becomes  a 
harbor  of  refuge  for  Allegheny  commerce.  The  floods  in  the 
two  rivers  seldom  come  at  the  same  time  on  account  of  the  differ- 
ences in  the  topography  and  climatic  conditions  along  the  two 


120 

NUMBER 


water-sheds.  The  most  serious  floods  in  the  Allegheny  generally 
come  in  the  spring,  when  they  are  frequently  accompanied  with 
drift  and  ice  to  such  an  extent  as  to  render  navigation  dangerous. 
At  a  stage  of  15  feet  in  an  Allegheny  River  flood  the  river  current 
runs  at  rates  of  from  4  to  7  miles  per  hour.  The  record  of  fifty- 
five  years  shows  that  there  is  an  average  of  9  days  each  year 
when  the  river  is  above  a  15-foot  stage,  and  this  is  mostly  in  the 
winter  and  spring  when  navigation  in  the  harbor  is  at  its  lowest 
ebb.  There  is  presented  herewith  Diagram  4,  showing  graphically 
the  average  number  of  days  each  year  during  which  the  river  has 
reached  the  various  heights  indicated. 

There  is  also  presented  a  hydrograph  record  of  the  river  for 
four  years  past  which  indicates  the  conditions  ordinarily  met  with 
as  regards  river  stages  at  various  times  of  year. 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES 


H7 


In  the  balancing  of  interests  between  the  traffic  on  the  river 
and  that  across  the  bridges,  it  is  believed  to  be  fair  and  just  that 
for  boats  of  excessive  size  and  height  the  navigation  of  the  river 
above    a     15 -foot 
stage  be   elimi- 
nated   from    the 
problem;    (i)    be- 
cause of  the  com- 
paratively  small 
number    of    these 
boats;  (2)  because 
of  the  questionable 
necessity  of  having 
such  high  boats  at 
all;  (3)  because  of 

the    Deriod    of    the  Towboat  and  barge  passing  under  low  bridge 

year  when  these  extreme  stages  are  reached;  (4)  because  these 
periods  of  time  are  so  limited  in  length;  (5)  because  of  the  gen- 
erally accompanying  swift  currents,  and  (6)  because  of  the  oft- 
times  accompanying  dangerous  floating  drift  and  floating  ice. 

As  to  the  height  of  vessels,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  great 
bulk  of  navigation 
under  the  bridges 
is  not  through 
traffic,  but  is  simply 
movements  about 
in  the  lower  stretch 
of  the  river  which 
forms  part  of  the 
harbor  of  Pitts- 
burgh. The  com- 
modities moved  are 
nearly  all  sand, 
gravel  and  coal  in 
barges,  which  loads  are  almost  invariably  taken  up  stream  while 
the  downward  movement  is  mostly  of  empty  barges.  These  barges 
are  mostly  moved  by  harbor  tugs.  The  harbor  tugs  actually  in 
use  are  from  22  to  27  feet  high,  averaging  about  24  feet. 

The    heights    of   the    Monongahela   standard    towboats   vary 


Closer  view  of  such  boats 


90G/ 


906/ 


GO  Gl 


;^: 


■■<  - 


\    '■  ■ 


I50 


PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 


from  24  to  32  feet,  averaging  abut  28  feet.  Out  of  a  list  of  28 
such  boats  but  5  exceed  28  feet  in  height. 

The  few  packet  boats  running  on  the  river  are  of  moderate 
height  and  can  be  accommodated  in  the  harbor  under  the  bridges 
at  ordinary  river  stages.  The  amount  of  business  that  could  be 
done  by  a  few  packet  boats  of  extreme  and  unnecessary  height  is 
so  small  that  to  raise  the  bridges  to  a  sufficient  height  to  accom- 
modate it  would  place  an  entirely  unjustifiable  tax  and  incon- 
venience upon  the  far  greater  business  interest  of  the  city  con- 
cerned In  crossing  the  river. 

The  following  tables  show  the  average  number  of  days  per 
annum  during  which  various  types  of  existing  vessels  would  be 
prevented  from  navigation  by  bridges  of  various  assumed  heights 
above  the  Davis  Island  Pool : 


Table    Showing   Effect   of  Various    Clearance    Heights  under.    Bridges 


Assumed  bridge  height  above 
pool  level  in  feet 


Types  of  Vessels 


Present 

6th  St.  I         „ 

bridge  I      37  42  47 

33       I  i 


Total  number  of  days  per  an- 
num when  clearance  would  be 
insufficient. 


Present 

6th  St. 

bridge 

33 


Total  number  of  days  per  an- 
num when  clearance  would  be 
insulBcient  excluding  days  when 
river  is  above  rs-foot  stage. 


Harbor  tugs,  average  height 
24' 

Harbor  tugs,  maximum  height 
27' 

Monongahela  boats,  ordinary 
maximum  height  28'    .    .    .    . 

Monongahela  boats,  extreme 
maximum  height  32'    .... 


36 

57 


3 

I 

9 

I 

12 

2 

57 

9 

3 
28 
48 


0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

0 

48 

0 

In  drawing  conclusions  from  the  above  table,  as  a  basis  for 
plans  governing  the  expenditure  of  millions  of  dollars  in  con- 
struction and  the  permanent  establishment  of  conditions  of  navi- 
gation and  of  traffic  over  the  bridges  and  the  enormous  business 
interests  concerned,  It  is  important  to  bear  In  mind  that  the 
types  of  vessels  here  considered  are  antiquated,  and  can  undoubt- 
edly be  materially  changed  In  many  particulars  to  the  benefit  of 
all  interests. 

As  bearing  directly  on  this  question  of  boats  and  bridges, 
attention  Is  Invited  to  the  following  extract  from  the  report  of 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES  151 

Hon.  D.  S.  Alexander,  chairman  of  the  River  and  Harbor  Com- 
mittee of  the  United  States  House  of  Representatives,  in  submit- 
ting for  action  of  the  House  the  last  River  and  Harbor  bill 
on  February   nth,  1910: 

Modern  Type  of  Boats  for  Non-tidal  Rivers. — "The  British  Gov- 
ernment has  been  designing  shallow-draft  boats  for  use  on  the 
Nile,  and  the  German  and  Austrian  governments  have  been 
working  along  similar  lines  with  reference  to  methods  of  trans- 
portation on  the  Rhine,  the  Danube,  the  Elbe  and  other  water- 
ways. The  boats  designed  have  been  very  successful,  having 
been  used  in  connection  with  modern  loading  and  unloading 
appliances.  On  our  western  rivers  little  change  has  been  made 
in  the  design  of  towboats,  barges,  etc.,  since  i860,  and  it  is 
believed  that  a  design  embodying  the  best  points  of  modern 
vessels,  with  modern  machinery  and  cargo  handling  devices, 
might  lead  to  a  marked  increase  in  the  traffic  on  the  non-tidal 
rivers  of  the  United  States,  especially  after  permanently  improved 
channels  are  available. 

"It  is  believed  that  the  appropriation  of  $500,000  to  be 
expended  in  the  purchase  of  plant  for  use  in  connection  with  the 
work  of  improvement  of  the  river  will  also  provide  for  experi- 
ments to  be  carried  on  by  the  Government  which  will  result  in 
improving  the  present  type  of  river  freight  carriers;  and  also 
that  these  tests  can  be  made  in  no  other  way,  since  the  expendi- 
tures and  uncertainties  involved  preclude  the  use  of  private  capi- 
tal for  the  purpose.  As  a  result  of  the  tests  or  experiments  it  is 
hoped  that  a  large  saving  to  the  country  at  large  may  accrue 
from  decreased  costs  of  transportation,  and  that  a  type  of  carrier 
may  be  developed  which  will  also  reduce  the  cost  of  all  bridges 
across  navigable  streams  due  to  lessened  requirements  in  the 
matter  of  head  room." 

This  report  of  Colonel  Alexander,  the  very  able  Chairman  of 
the  River  and  Harbor  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, is  worthy  of  serious  consideration.  Such  an  investigation 
and  experiments  to  determine  the  best  type  of  carriers  to  use  on 
the  river  seems  certain  to  be  provided  for  and  may  result  in 
clearly  demonstrating  that  no  necessity  exists  for  raising  the 
Allegheny  bridges  at  all,  in  accordance  with  the  possibility  out- 
lined   by  the    closing    paragraph  of  Colonel   Alexander's    report 


152  PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 

above.  The  appropriation  of  $500,000  as  recommended  by  Col- 
onel Alexander  is  included  in  the  River  and  Harbor  bill  which 
has  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  and  Senate.  There  is 
every  probability  that  it  will  become  a  law. 

A  vast  amount  of  water  traffic  is  carried  on  inland  waterways 
all  over  the  world  under  fixed  bridges  with  far  less  head  room 
than  is  provided  for  under  the  Allegheny  River  bridges.  It  is 
customary  in  other  parts  of  the  country  and  the  world  to  estab- 
lish for  rivers  a  minimum  head  room  for  bridges  at  a  high  navi- 
gable stage,  which  stage  is  considerably  lower  than  the  maximum 
or  even  the  ordinary  high  flood  stage.  For  instance,  in  the  new 
barge  canal  being  built  by  the  State  of  New  York  at  a  cost  of 
$108,000,000  the  minimum  head  room  under  all  stationary 
bridges  Is  fixed  at  15%  feet  at  the  high  navigable  stage  of  the 
water.  The  high  navigable  stage  is  based  chiefly  upon  what  is  a 
safe  navigable  stage,  taking  everything  into  consideration.  It  is 
by  no  means  a  very  high  stage.  As  this  canal  runs  through  the 
canalized  Mohawk,  Oneida,  Oswego,  Seneca  and  Clyde  rivers,  the 
situation  is  comparable  with  that  on  the  Allegheny.  The  depth 
of  the  canal  at  low  water  is  to  be  12  feet,  so  it  is  seen  that  the 
clear  head  room  is  but  about  25  per  cent  greater  than  the  mini- 
mum depth  of  the  water.  The  boats  must  be  made  to  fit  the  bridges, 
and  not  the  bridges  to  fit  the  boats.  It  is  estimated  that  the  amount 
of  traffic  which  will  pass  through  these  canals  about  450  miles 
long  and  under  these  i5X-foot  bridges  will  be  about  20,000,000 
tons  annually,  many  times  the  amount  making  use  of  the  Alle- 
gheny River.  The  present  Erie,  Champlain  and  Oswego  canals 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  which  have  been  in  operation  for  about 
80  years,  are  crossed  by  several  hundred  bridges  giving  a  clear 
head  room  of  13  feet.  No  complaint  about  this  head  room  is 
known  to  exist,  notwithstanding  that  steam  vessels  are  largely 
used  for  navigation  purposes  on  the  canals.  The  boats  have  to  be 
made  to  fit  the  bridges  and  not  the  bridges  to  fit  the  boats. 

At  Paris,  the  river  Seine  running  through  the  city  carries  a 
very  large  amount  of  business.  Annually  about  20,000,000  pas- 
sengers, and  about  11,000,000  tons  of  freight  are  carried  on 
boats  of  various  kinds.  There  are  1,6  bridges  which  span  the 
river  and  must  be  passed  by  the  water-borne  traffic.  The  clear 
head  room  under  these  bridges  at  the    highest    navigable    water 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES  153 

varies  from  11.25  ^^^^  ^°  21.88  feet.  By  highest  navigable  water 
is  meant  the  stage  of  water  when  by  reason  of  floods  or  currents, 
navigation  ceases.  This  Paris  water-borne  freight  traffic  on  the 
Seine  amounts  to  fully  7  times  that  of  the  Allegheny  River  and 
passes  under  5  times  as  many  bridges,  with  minimum  available 
head  room  at  high  navigable  stages  just  about  one  half  that  under 
the  present  bridges  over  the  Allegheny  at  a  15-foot  stage.  The 
conditions  of  navigation  on  the  Seine  at  Paris  are  practically  the 
same  as  those  on  the  Allegheny  at  Pittsburgh.  In  Paris  the  bouts 
are  made  to  fit  the  bridges  and  not  the  bridges  to  fit  the  boats. 

From  these  and  many  other  illustrations  that  could  be  given 
it  is  evident  that  it  is  not  universally  or  even  commonly  consid- 
ered necessary  or  advisable  to  sacrifice  business  interests  crossing 
the  bridges  to  navigation  interests  using  the  waterways,  to  any 
such  extent  as  that  demanded  by  the  navigation  interests  of  the 
Allegheny  River. 

Conclusions  as  to  Clearance  Heights .— Disregarding  for  the 
moment  the  question  of  the  time  when  changes  in  the  present 
bridges  should  be  required,  it  is  believed,  after  very  careful  con- 
sideration, that  the  conditions  brought  out  by  our  study  of  the 
problem  would  best  be  met  by  fixing  the  elevation  for  a  substan- 
tial portion  of  each  bridge  in  the  center  at  a  clear  height  above 
the  pool  level  of  substantially  37  feet,  or  28  feet  above  the  river 
at  a  15-foot  stage  at  each  bridge.  It  is  believed  that  this  elevation 
will  give  fair,  justifiable  and  all  really  needed  accommodations  to 
the  navigation  interests.  This  height  can  be  attained  without 
extravagant  and  unjustifiable  expense  and  inconvenience  to  the 
business  interests  involved  in  crossing  the  river,  and  while  it  can- 
not be  hoped  that  it  would  be  satisfactory  to  the  extreme  advo- 
cates of  river  and  harbor  interests,  it  ought  to  satisfy  those  who 
are  able  and  willing  to  give  proper  and  fair  consideration  to  other 
interests  than  their  own.  There  are  no  reasonable  navigation 
demands,  with  bridges  at  this  elevation,  that  cannot  be  met  if  the 
water-borne  commerce  be  conducted  with  vessels  of  the  best 
modern  accepted  type  and  not  of  extreme  or  unnecessary  height. 

Piers  and  Channels.— For  the  benefit  of  the  navigation  interests 
there  are  certain  changes  in  some  of  the  bridges  over  the  Alle- 
gheny that  should  be  made  without  question.  These  relate  to  the 
location  of  piers  and  location  and  width  of  the  navigable  channels. 


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m 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES  155 

At  the  extreme  mouth  of  the  Allegheny  River  a  new  bridge, 
the  North  Side  Point  bridge,  has  been  approved  by  the  War 
Department  and  is  to  be  built.  This  is  to  have  one  central  pier 
dividing  the  river  into  two  channels. 

A  short  distance  above  this  North  Side  Point  bridge  is  situ- 
ated the  Sixth  Street  bridge,  in  some  respects  the  most  important 
highway  structure  crossing  the  river.  This  bridge  now  corre- 
sponds to  the  North  Side  Point  bridge  in  having  a  central  pier 
and  dividing  the  river  into  two  main  channels  of  ample  width  of 
over  400  feet. 

The  next  bridge,  the  Seventh  Street  bridge,  also  has  now  a 
central  pier  with  channels  about  320  feet  width  on  each  side  of  it. 
The  next  bridge  up  the  river,  that  at  Ninth  Street,  has  shorter 
spans,  with  the  piers  so  unfortunately  located  as  to  be  decidedly 
obstructive.  As  this  bridge  is  of  relatively  light  construction  it  is 
possible  that  the  heavy  and  constantly  increasing  traffic  which  it 
is  called  upon  to  bear  will  before  long  necessitate  its  reconstruc- 
tion anyway,  and  it  will  not  be  unreasonable  to  require  it  to  be 
rebuilt  with  fewer  piers  properly  located  to  conform  to  the  plan 
adopted  for  the  Sixth  Street  and  Seventh  Street  bridges. 

As  a  permanent  arrangement  of  piers  for  the  above  three 
bridges  either  of  two  logical  plans  may  be  adopted.  The  first  is 
to  retain  the  existing  two-spans  center-pier  arrangement  of  the 
Sixth  Street  and  Seventh  Street  bridges,  conforming  to  the  center 
pier  plan  required  by  the  United  States  Engineers  for  the  new 
North  Side  Point  bridge,  and  reconstruct  the  Ninth  Street  bridge 
upon  the  same  general  plan.  The  other  is  to  reconstruct  all  three 
bridges  with  two  piers  and  three  spans  each,  as  recommended  by 
the  local  office  of  the  United  States  Engineers.  The  first  or  cen- 
tral pier  plan  has  the  merit  of  economy  of  construction  in  that  it 
involves  the  construction  of  no  new  piers  for  the  Sixth  Street  and 
Seventh  Street  bridges,  and  permits  the  continued  use  of  the 
existing  superstructures  of  the  Sixth  Street  and  Seventh  Street 
bridges  by  simply  raising  them  to  the  elevation  that  may  be  de- 
cided upon  and  ordered.  So  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  in  view  of 
the  center  pier  plan  adopted  for  the  North  Side  Point  bridge,  the 
advantage  to  navigation  appears  to  lie  on  the  side  of  adhering  to 
a  center  pier  plan  for  these  bridges  also.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  three-span  bridges  could  be  made  more 


156 


PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 


agreeable  in  appearance  than  two-span  bridges.  But  the  possible 
gain  in  appearance  alone  does  not  appear  sufficient  to  justify  the 
adoption  of  three  spans. 

The  next  bridge  above  Ninth  Street  is  that  of  the  Pittsburgh, 
Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago  Railroad.  This  has  been  constructed 
with  two  main  piers  providing  one  main  central  channel  337.5  feet 
wide  and  three  other  piers  giving  four  channels  from  155  to  163 
feet  wide.  Owing  to  the  bend  in  the  river  at  the  bridge  and  the 
distance  above  the  Ninth  Street  bridge,  there  is  no  valid  objec- 


Paris  bridges  and  boats — low  boats  to  fit  bridges 

tion  to  this  single  main  central  channel  at  the  railroad  bridge 
connecting  either  with  two  channels  divided  by  the  central  piers 
of  the  bridges  below,  or  with  a  central  channel  if  those  bridges 
should  be  reconstructed  on  the  three-span  plan. 

The  Sixteenth  Street  bridge  has  been  constructed  with  3  piers 
dividing  the  river  into  4  channels  of  about  150  feet  each;  the  clear 
head  room  beneath  it  is  less  than  that  now  given  by  the  bridges 
below  it.  The  best  arrangement  to  be  made  with  this  bridge  is  to 
require  it  to  be  rebuilt  without  the  central  pier,  leaving  a  central 
channel  about  320  feet  in  width  between  the  two  side  piers  to 
correspond  with  the  railroad  bridge  just  below  it.  It  is  an  old, 
covered,  wooden  bridge,  in  poor  physical  condition,  and,  as  pre- 
viously noted,  it  is  probable  that  it  must  be  raised  anyhow  in  connec- 
tion with  eliminating  railroad  grade  crossings  on  the  approaches. 

The  Thirtieth  Street  bridge  has  its  piers  properly  spaced  to 
leave  a  central  channel  285  feet  in  clear  width  and  no  changes 
are  required  in  pier  and  channel  location  at  this  bridge. 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES  157 

The  Thirty-third  Street  or  Pittsburgh  Junction  Railroad 
bridge  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  System  has  3  piers,  giving  a 
main  central  channel  of  232  feet  wide,  with  side  channels  195  feet 
wide,  and  on  the  Herrs  Island  side  of  150  feet.  No  change  is 
needed  in  the  location  of  the  piers  and  channels  at  this  bridge. 

The  Forty-third  Street  bridge  is  built  with  3  piers,  making  4 
channels  each  of  about  160  feet  wide.  It  gives  less  clear  head 
room  at  high  river  stages  than  most  of  the  lower  river  bridges.  It 
is  an  old  wooden  bridge,  in  poor  physical  condition.  The  best 
arrangement  for  this  bridge  is  to  treat  it  as  the  Sixteenth  Street 
bridge,  and  to  require  it  to  be  rebuilt,  omitting  the  central  pier 
and  leaving  a  central  channel  about  300  feet  wide,  to  correspond 
with  the  bridges  below  it.  The  elimination  of  railroad  grade 
crossings  on  the  approaches  to  this  bridge  is  already  a  pressing 
public  need  and  must  soon  result  in  its  raising  or  reconstruction 
at  a  higher  level. 

Considerations  against  Requiring  Changes  in  Bridges  To  Be  Made 
at  Present. — The  following  important  questions,  having  a  direct 
bearing  upon  the  proper  design  of  permanent  bridges  across  the 
Allegheny  River,  are  now  under  consideration: 

1.  The  Flood  Commission  is  getting  data  for  studying  the 
question  of  a  protective  embankment  along  the  river  front,  and  of 
the  proper  grades  of  streets  and  bridge  approaches  in  the  region 
subject  to  inundation.  The  design  of  such  flood-protection  works 
should  have  important  bearing  upon  the  grade,  location  and 
design  of  the  permanent  bridge  abutments.  This  Commission  is 
also  studying  the  question  of  impounding  the  flood  waters  of  the 
Allegheny  and  Monongahela  Rivers  in  their  upper  valleys,  which 
may  result  in  materially  lessening  the  height  and  velocity  of  floods 
in  the  harbor  of  Pittsburgh,  and  consequently,  simplify  the  bridge 
and  navigation  problems  of  the  harbor. 

2.  The  question  of  the  best  routes  for  surface  cars  and  rapid 
transit  lines  crossing  the  Allegheny  River  is  now  being  studied 
for  the  City  as  a  part  of  a  comprehensive  plan  for  traction 
improvements.  The  result  of  these  studies  might  readily  affect 
the  design  of  the  new  bridges. 

3.  The  government  experiments  recommended  by  Colonel 
Alexander  of  the  River  and  Harbor  Committee  and  authorized  in 
the  River  and  Harbor  bill  just  passed  by  Congress  and  providing 


158 


PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 


for  the  development  of  a  more  economical  and  efficient  type  of 
river-boats,  requiring  less  head  room  than  the  present  antiquated 
types,  may  soon  show  results  that  would  have  a  decided  influence 
in  determining  the  reasonable  clearance  heights  of  bridges. 

4.  Attention  is  also  invited  to  the  fact  that  the  people  of  Pitts- 
burgh have  voted  to  expend  about  $7,000,000  in  certain  public 
improvements.  Among  these  are  the  cutting  down  of  the 
"Hump,"  an  obstructive  hill  In  the  city's  midst,  widening  some 


A  typical  Paris  boat  and  tows 

Streets  and  filling  certain  other  streets  In  the  North  Side  and 
West  End  that  are  flooded  at  high  river  stages.  The  material 
from  the  "Hump"  In  the  vicinity  of  the  Court  House  is  to  be 
hauled  to  these  North  Side  streets  across  the  lower  Allegheny 
bridges  under  question.  The  work  Is  of  great  magnitude  and  It 
will  take  at  least  two  years  to  complete  it.  Any  material  alteration 
to  the  bridges  such  as  proposed  by  the  Board  of  Engineers  will 
require  a  long  time  to  be  carried  into  effect.  While  this  bridge 
work  would  be  under  way,  the  transportation  of  the  material  ex- 
cavated from  the  "Hump"  and  the  filling  up  of  the  low  grade 
streets  of  the  North  Side  would  have  to  cease  or  would  be  carried 
on  with  great  difficulty  and  inconvenience  to  other  traffic.  This 
would  tie  up  the  whole  work  while  It  is  In  progress,  causing 
material  Injury  to  the  city,  for  It  Is  to  be  extremely  annoying  and 
bothersome  while  It  is  in  progress,  and  the  longer  this  period  Is 
strung  out  the  worse  it  will  be. 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES  159 

For  all  of  the  above  reasons  we  believe  that  to  precipitate  the 
actual  reconstruction  of  the  bridges  at  this  time  would  be  most 
undesirable  for  the  city  and  prejudicial  to  the  best  results,  in  the 
long  run,  for  all  concerned. 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

In  conclusion  we  beg  to  recommend  as  follows:  i.  That  the 
Sixteenth  Street  and  Forty-third  Street  bridges,  which  are  obstruc- 
tions to  navigation  on  account  of  their  pier  locations,  narrow 
channels,  and  exceptionally  low  clearance  height,  be  required  to 
be  rebuilt  with  their  piers  so  located  as  to  give  channels  con- 
forming to  the  neighboring  bridges,  and  that  their  elevation  be 
fixed  with  regard  to  eliminating  the  railroad  grade  crossings  on 
their  approaches,  but  the  minimum  clearance  shall  be  fixed  in 
accordance  with  the  closing  paragraph  below. 

2.  That  the  Ninth  Street  bridge  should  be  rebuilt  as  soon  as 
practicable  with  a  center  pier  and  two  wide  spans  conforming 
to  those  of  the  Sixth  Street  and  Seventh  Street  bridges.  The 
design  of  the  new  Ninth  Street  bridge,  however,  should  not  be 
finally  determined  and  erection  begun  until  a  definite  plan  for 
comprehensive  improvements  in  the  traction  system  between  the 
two  sides  of  the  river  has  been  decided  upon.  Unless  new  circum- 
stances develop  before  the  construction  of  this  bridge  is  begun 
that  materially  affect  the  problem  of  clearance  height,  the  elevation 
should  be  fixed  in  accordance  with  the  closing  paragraph  below. 

3.  That  all  questions  pertaining  to  changing  the  elevation  of 
the  Sixth  Street,  Seventh  Street,  Fort  Wayne,  Thirtieth  Street  and 
Junction  Railroad  bridges  be  deferred  to  await  the  report  of  the 
Pittsburgh  Flood  Commission  and  the  resultant  action;  to  await 
the  report  on  a  comprehensive  plan  for  traction  improvements;  to 
await  the  completion  of  the  work  projected  by  the  City  in  cutting 
down  some  streets  and  filling  others;  and  to  await  the  results  of 
investigation  of  river-boat  design  and  construction  provided  for 
in  the  River  and  Harbor  bill  just  passed  by  Congress. 

4.  That,  if  it  is  deemed  essential  and  necessary  at  present  to 
decide  upon  the  elevation  to  which  all  Allegheny  River  bridges 
must  be  made  to  conform,  this  elevation  be  fixed  so  that  there 
shall  be  a  clear  head  room  of  substantially  37  feet  above  pool 
level,    varied  so    as  to  give    at  each  bridge    a    clear    head  room 


i6o 


PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 


of  28  feet  when  the  river  is  at  a  15-foot  flood  stage.  This  height 
to  be  maintained  over  the  entire  main  span  where  there  is  a  cen- 
tral span  and  for  180  feet  on  each  side  of  the  central  pier  where 
there  is  a  central  pier. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servants, 

Thomas  W.  Symons, 

Col.  Corps  Engineers  U.  S.  A.,  retired, 

Frederick  Law  Olmsted. 


APPENDIX  I 


Amount  and  Importance  of  Bridge  Traffic. — Highway  Bridges. — 
The  following  table  gives  the  records  of  counts  made  in  the 
fall  of  1909,  and  spring  of  1910  on  the  various  bridges  over  the 
Allegheny  River  : 


Record    of   Counts. — 

Table 

No.   I 

Location  of  bridges 

Period  of  count 

Street 
cars 

Heavy 
wagons 

Light 
wagons 

Car- 
riages 

moM;s'P^destrians 

Sixth  Street     .... 
Ninth  Street    .... 

Aug.  24-Oct.  23 
Aug.  26-Sept.  30 
Oct.  4-Oct.  17 
Aug.  24  Oct.  23 
Aug.  23-Nov    I 

89.354 
72.854 

55.791 
8,961 

*4.444 
9.844 
8.159 

79.247 
14,846 

*7.764 

10, 184 

8,165 

9.534 
613 

24,583 
960 

1,605,793 

185,158 

76,495 

96,485 

130.744 

Thirtieth  Street .    .    . 
Forty-third  Street  .    . 

667 

987 

447 
2,179 

Record   of  Counts. — Table   No. 

lAt 

Location  of  bridges 

Period  of  count 

Passenger 
vehicles 

Delivery 
vehicles 

Single 
trucks 

Double 
trucks 

Pedestrians 

Seventh  Street     .    .    . 

Feb.   28-Mar.  3, 
4,  5.  7 

401 

4,800 

273 

1.035 

29,146 

*  Automobiles  and  carriages  included   in  counts  for  light  and  heavy  wagons. 

t Table  lA.  The  count  at  Seventh  Street  bridge  was  recorded  by  different  units  and, 
therefore,  required  a  separate  table.  The  North  Side  approach  to  this  bridge  was  being 
improved  at  the  time  the  count  was  made,  causing  a  temporary  interference  with  travel 
reflected  in  an  abnormally  small  proportion  of  traffic  on  the  bridge  and  a  corresponding 
increase  for  the  adjacent  bridges. 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES 


i6i 


Assuming  that  the  average  number  of  vehicles  per  day  and 
the  average  tonnage  per  day  are  the  same  throughout  the  year  as 
during  the  periods  of  counting,  we  deduce  the  following  results: 


Traffic  for  Year    1909. — Table  No.  2 


Location  of  1  Period      Street 
bridges      ioi  count!       cars 


Heavy 
wagons 


6th  St. 
9th  St. 


Light         Car- 
wagons      riages 


[909     534.652  333'8^9   474. '71    57.013 


I 
1909     738,650    90,812    150,490 


Auto- 
mobiles 


Pedestrians 


*Gross 

tonnage 


tTotal  value 


147,095  9,608,406  13,240,010  *l, 879, 140,750 


1 6th  St  .  1909 
30th  St.  .  1909 
43d  St.  .  1909 


115,851  ,202,429 
58,875   60,919 


6,205   9.709  1,877,268  14,732,130  2,201,473,500 


3.979 


.  .  .   1,991,988 
2,664   577,320 


42,522  42,559  :  5.1471  II. 351  681,710 


967.544 

398,430 

i 
3 1 1,090 


102,201,375 
44,233,500 
32,478,500 


T  RAFFIC     FOR 

Year    i 

909.— T 

A,BLE    No.     zAt 

Location  of  bridges 

Passenger 
vehicles 

Delivery 
vehicles 

Single 
trucks 

19,929 

Double 
trucks 

Pedestrians          ^^ros^s^ 

tTotal  value 

Seventh   Street  .    . 

29,273 

351,400 

75.555 

2,127,585        1,159,084 

1 

149,862,600 

*In  estimating  the  gross  tonnage,  tlie  following  average  weights  were  used:  a  street 
car  with  average  load— 19  tons;  a  heavy  wagon  (including  team),  averaging  loaded  and 
empty  vehicles— 4  tons;  a  light  wagon  (including  team),  averaging  loaded  and  empty 
vehicles— 1.75  tons;  an  automobile  or  carriage  (including  team),— .9  tons;  pedestrians 
and  passengers  are  figured  at  about   150  pounds  apiece. 

t Estimating  heavy  and  light  wagons,  including  team  and  load  at  $125  per  ton  ;  car- 
riages and  automobiles,  including  teams,  at  $300  per  ton;  cars  at  |i6o  per  ton  and  live 
stock  at  $200  per  ton,  we  get  an  average  tonnage  value  of  $150  over  the  Sixth  Street,  Sev- 
enth Street!  and  Ninth  Street  bridges,  and  $125  over  the  Sixteenth  Street,  Thirtieth 
Street  and  Forty-third  Street  bridges. 
t  See  Note  under  Table  lA. 

T{(ulroad  Bridges. — The  bridge  carrying  the  heaviest  traffic  is 
that  of  the  Pittsburgh,  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago  Railroad,  a  part 
of  the  Pennsylvania  System,  which  forms  one  of  the  links  in  the 
main  line  of  this  railroad  system  between  the  East  and  West. 
Across  this  bridge  are  carried  each  year  about  2,750,000  passen- 
gers, 32,000  tons  of  mail,  and  53,000,000  tons  of  freight  and  gen- 
eral railroad  traffic,  besides  about  2,135,000  pedestrians,*  making 
it  one  of  the  greatest  throats  of  commerce  in  the  country.  This 
is  a  double  deck  bridge  of  4  tracks,  2  tracks  on  each  deck,  with 
a  wide  footway  on  the   lower  deck.     It  is  to   be  noted    that  the 

*The  figures  for  pedestrians,  passengers  and  general  tonnage  are  taken  from  the  affi- 
davit of  John  C.  Perrott.  The  tonnage  of  mail  was  obtained  fnnti  the  report  of  the  U.  S. 
Post-office  Department. 


l62 


PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 


amount  of  traffic  passing  over  this  bridge  is  about  25  times  as 
much  as  that  which  floats  on  the  water  beneath  it,  and  is  far 
higher  in  quality  and  value  per  ton. 

The  other  railroad  bridge  crossing  the  river  within  the  city 
limits  is  the  Thirty-third  Street  viaduct  of  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad.  This  is  a  link  in  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 
between  the  East  and  the  West  and  carries  an  enormous  traffic 
amounting  each  year  to  about  217,000  passengers  and  24,330,000 
tons  of  freight,  express  and  other  trains. 

Uniting  this  with  the  traffic  over  the  Fort  Wayne  bridge  of 
the  Pennsylvania  we  have  crossing  the  Allegheny  River  on  the 
two  railroad  bridges  a  gross  amount  of  77,330,000  tons,  and 
5,102,000  passengers  and  pedestrians,  with  a  value  of  tonnage 
traffic  estimated  at  approximately  $4,957,000,000. 


APPENDIX   II 


Amount  and  Importance  of  River  Traffic. — The  following  sta- 
tistics were  obtained  from  the  United  States  Engineers'  office  and 
show  the  number  of  boats,  net  tonnage  and  number  of  passengers 
uassing  Dam  No.  i   in  the  Allegheny  River  during  the  year  1909: 


Table  No.   i 


January  . 
February 
March 
April  .  . 
May  .  . 
June  .  . 
July  .  . 
August  . 
September 
October  . 
November 
December 

Total 


Month 


No.  vessels       No.  passengers 


Tonnage  of 

cargoes 


338 

1,055 
732 
896 
958 
901 
868 

1,006 

955 
789 
495 

9-351 


16 
18 

25 

197 

1,506 

1,248 

2,495 

2,019 

1,681 

982 

616 

231 

11,034 


30,889 
30,073 
81,424 

51,457 
57,269 

56,324 
37,888 
29,102 

36,759 
53,622 
42,827 
29,086 

536,720 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES 


163 


The  following  are  statistics  of  counts   taken    in   1909  at    the 
different  bridges: 


Table  No.  2 


Location  of  count 

Period  covered  by  count 

No.  of  vessels 
passing 

Sixth  Street  Bridge 

Ninth  Street  Bridge 

Fort  Wayne  Bridge 

Thirtieth  Street  Bridge 

J.  R.  R.  Bridge 

Aug.  24— Oct.  23  (6i  days) 
Aug.  26 — Sept.  30  (36  days) 
Aug.  20 — Oct.  28  (70  days) 
Aug.  24 — Oct.  23  (61  days) 
Sept.  13 — Nov.  13  (60  days) 
Aug.  23 — Nov.  I  (70  days) 

4,534 
3,279 
4-925 
2,022 
1,460 
1,58a 

Forty-third  Street  Bridge 

Assuming  that  the  ratio  between  the  number  of  vessels  during 
any  given  period  and  the  total  for  the  year  is  the  same  at  all 
bridges  as  at  Dam  No.  i ;  and  assuming  that  the  relative  number 
of  different  kinds  of  vessels  are  the  same  at  all  bridges ;  and 
further  assuming  that  the  average  weight  of  cargo  is  the  same  at 
all  bridges  as  recorded  at  Dam  No.  i,  we  reach  the  estimates  of 
total  traffic  under  the  bridges  given  in  Table  No.  3. 

For  the  Year  1909 — Table  No.  3 


Location  of  count 

No.  of  vessels 

♦Weight  of 
vessels 

Weight  of 
cargoes 

*Wt.  of  vessels 
and  cargoes 

Sixth  Street  Bridge 

Ninth  Street  Bridge 

Fort  Wayne  Bridge 

Thirtieth  Street  Bridge 

J.  R.  R.  Bridge 

Forty-third  Street  Bridge    .... 

21,763 

25,904 

20,685 

9,706 

8,030 

6,636 

1,097,378 

1,311,823 

1,043,020 

489,416 

404,905 

334,613 

1,247,020 
1,484,299 
1,185,250 

556,154 
460,119 
380,243 

2,344,398 
2,796,122 
2,228,270 
1,045,570 
865,024 
714,856 

*The  following  data  as  to  weight  of  vessels  was  kindly  furnished  by  Mr.  J.  F.  Tilley: 

Weights  of  River  Craft  without  Freight 

Medium  tows 800  tons 

Poo!  tows 175  tons 

Barges      55  tons 

Coal  boats 105  tons 

Flats 30  tons 

In  estimating  we  assumed  the  following  average  weights  for  river  craft,  based  in  large 
measure  upon  the  above  data  : 

Steamboats 225  tons 

Coal  boats  and  barges 80  tons 

Barges      55  tons 

House  boats,  excursion  boats,  yachts,  and  U.S.  Government  boats  .    45  tons 

Launches,  skiffs,  etc i  ton 

Motor  boats  and  miscellaneous 10  tons 

The  largest  total,  that  passing  under  the  Ninth  Street  bridge, 
is  without  doubt  somewhat  less  than  the  total  traffic  on  the  river, 


i64  PITTSBURGH— SPECIAL    REPORTS 

and  a  careful  study  of  the  figures  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the 
total  water-borne  traffic  of  the  Allegheny  River  in  1909  amounted 
to  about  one  and  three-quarter  (1%)  million  tons  of  cargo  or 
three  and  one-half  (3%)  million  tons  gross  displacement,  includ- 
ing cargoes,  barges,  tugs  and  all  vessels. 

The  water-borne  commerce  on  this  river  is  of  the  cheapest 
character,  consisting  almost  entirely  of  sand  and  gravel  dredged 
from  the  rivers  and  coal  floated  down  the  Monongahela  and 
delivered  along  the  shores.  All  this  sand,  gravel  and  coal  is  car- 
ried in   low-lying    barges  or  scows  moved   by  tugs  or  towboats. 

A  small  amount  of  package  freight  comes  in  and  leaves  by 
packet  boats. 

Table    No.    4 

tonnage  passing  dam  no.  i  during  year  1909.    (obtained  from 
united  states  engineers) 

Coal 231,232  tons 

Other  iron  or  steel   products 4^8  tons 

Sand 132,894  tons 

Gravel i23>579  tons 

Brick 75  tons 

Stone 3.869  tons 

Timber 8,519  tons 

Lumber 3.Si9  tons 

Pit  posts 13,950  tons 

Braces 600  tons 

Railroad  ties 6,650  tons 

Wood 45  tons 

General  merchandise 3."9  tons 

New  barges      •    •       2,628  tons 

New  boats  (coal) 3,940  tons 

Manure 1,000  tons 

Bark      455  tons 

The  average  value  of  the  freight  based  on  prices  prevaiUng 
in  1910  is  about  $3  a  ton.  The  average  value  of  the  carriers  is 
about  $65  a  ton.  As  there  is  a  slightly  greater  weight  of  freight 
than  carrier,  an  average  of  $30  per  ton  would  be  a  fair  estimate 
of  the  value  of  freight  and  carriers.  The  total  value  of  the  water- 
borne  traffic  of  the  Allegheny  River  for  the  year  under  the  vari- 
ous bridges  would,  therefore,  be  about  $105,000,000. 

The  passenger  traffic  on  the  river  is  so  small  that  it  may  be 
considered  negligible.  It  is  estimated  at  35,000,  largely  pleasure 
traffic  in  small  boats. 

About  one-third  as  much  tonnage  goes  through  Lock  No.  2 


ALLEGHENY    RIVER    BRIDGES  165 

as  through  Lock  No.   i,  and  about  one-sixteenth  as  much  goes 
through  Lock  No.  3  as  through  Lock  No.  i.     There  is  no  navi- 
gation on  the  river  above  the  third  pool.    It  is  claimed,  however, 
that  with  the  further  canalization  of  the  river  above  Dam  No.  3 
and    the    raising    of    the    bridges    this    traffic    would    be    greatly 
increased.     It    is  to  be  hoped  that  there  will  be  a  considerable 
increase,    but    there    are    distinct    limitations    on     the    probable 
amount    of   the    increase.     The    Monongahela   has    a   larger    and 
more  highly  favored  local  territory  to  draw  upon  for  freight  than 
the  Allegheny  so  that  under  the  best  of  conditions,  with  every 
possible  improvement  of  navigation,  the  traffic  on  the  Allegheny 
can  never  be  expected  to  approach  that  upon  the  Monongahela. 
The  total  amount  of  freight  of  all  kinds  passing  Dam  No.  i 
on  the  Monongahela  in  1909,  was  5,417. 873>  ov  a  little  more  than 
ten  times  the  amount  on  the  Allegheny,  while  the  tonnage  pass- 
ing over  the  Allegheny  bridges  is  thirty  times  greater  than  the 
tonnage  on  the  Allegheny  River.*     Yet,  if  conceivably  the  traffic 
on  the  Allegheny  should  equal  that  now  on  the  Monongahela,  it 
would    still    be  only  one-third    that    over  the  Allegheny  bridges. 
Since  the  figures  for   the  present   traffic  over  the  Allegheny 
River    bridges  are   used    for  comparison   with    the   present  river 
traffic,  and  since  the  former  must  continue  to  grow  steadily  with 
the  growth  of  the  Pittsburgh  industrial  district,  it   seems  quite 
clear  that  no  conceivable  growth  in  the  latter  can  seriously  affect 
the  overwhelming  predominance  of  the  bridge  traffic  m  amount 
and  value.* 

*  See  Diagrams  i,  2  and  3. 


INDEX 


Allegheny  River  Boulevard,  79. 

i\llegheny  River  Bridges,  133-165. 

Allegheny  River  Heights,  145-149. 

Allegheny  River  Parkway,  120. 

Amount  and  Importance  of  Bridge 
Traffic,  137,  138,  160-162. 

Amount  and  Importance  of  River  Traffic, 
138-140,  162-165. 

Amount  and  Importance  of  Traffic  Affec- 
ted, 137—140. 

Appendix  I,  Bridge  Report,  160-162. 

Appendix  II,  Bridge  Report,  162-165. 

Ardmore  Thoroughfare,  73. 

Areas  Reached  by  High-  and  Low-level 
Tunnel  Routes,  54. 

Arlington  Avenue  and  Washington  Ave- 
nue Connection,  85. 

Aspinwall  Bridge,  The,  59,  60. 

Baltimore  Surveys,  100. 

Batavia  Street,  71. 

Bates  Run  Connection,  63,  64. 

Baum  Street  Improv-ement,  65. 

Beechview  Thoroughfare,  83. 

Beechwood  Boulevard  Connection,  68, 
69. 

Beechwood  Boulevard  Parkway,  120,  121. 

Beechwood  Boulevard  Re-alignment,  70. 

Bell  Avenue  Extension,  73. 

Bellefield  Improvement,  The,  101-106. 

Bluff  Street  Hillside,  122. 

Boats  for  Non-Tidal  Rivers,  151-153. 

Boundary  Street  Improvement,  69. 

Braddock  Avenue — Northerly  End,  72. 

Braddock  Avenue  Viaduct,  72. 

Bridge  Report,  Special,  133-165. 

Bridges  over  the  Seine,  Paris,  154. 

Bridge  Street  Improvement,  78. 

Bridge  Traffic,  137,  138,  160-162. 

Brighton  Road  Connection,  75,  76. 

Brighton  Road  Viaduct,  76. 

Brownsville  Road,  86. 

Butler  Street  Improvement,  59. 

California  Avenue  and  Brighton  Road 
Extension,  75,  76. 


Carrick  Connection  from  the  South  Hills 

Tunnel,  84,  85. 
Carson  Street,  79,  80. 
Center  Avenue  Improvement,  65. 
Chartiers  Avenue  Grade  Crossing,  80. 
Chartiers  Valley  Parks,  118. 
City   and   the   Allegheny   River    Bridges, 

The,  133-165. 
Civic  Center,  .\,  11-  7. 
Clearance    Heights,    Conclusions    as    to, 

153- 
Comparison  of  Bridge  and  River  Traffic, 

140. 
Considerations  against  Requiring  Changes 

in  Bridges  to  be  made  at  Present,  157- 

159- 

Corliss  Street,  80,  81. 

Cost  of  Living  in  Pittsburgh,  XIII. 

Crafton-Carnegie  Connection,  81. 

Crafton  Hillside  Thoroughfare,  81. 

Diamond  Street  Widening,  17. 

Down  Town  District,  The,  5-30. 

Dravosburg  and  MifHin  Township  Thor- 
oughfares, 74,  7  . 

Duquesne  Bridge,  75. 

Eastward  Arteries  and  Their  Improve- 
ment, 6-9. 

East  Liberty  Improvements,  65-67. 

East  Ohio  Street,  77,  78. 

East  Street,  76,  77. 

Effect  of  Different  Bridge  Heights  upon 
River  Traffic,  145-151. 

Effect  of  Various  Possible  Bridge  Heights 
upon  the  Traffic  Over  the  Bridges,  141- 

145- 
Effect  of  Various  Solutions,  140. 
Eighth  Avenue  Branch  to  Dravosburg,  75. 
Eighth  Avenue  Branch  Westward,  75. 
Eighth  Avenue  Improvement,  75. 
Ellsworth  Avenue  Extension,  62. 
Etna  Improvement,  78. 
Etna  Park,  118. 
Etna  Playground,  118. 
Fairhaven  County  Road,  84. 


(167) 


i68 


INDEX 


Fifth  Avenue — Center  Avenue  Connec- 
tions at  Soho,  6i,  62. 

Forbes  Street — Fifth  Avenue  Connection 
at  Soho,  60,  61. 

Forbes  Street  Arter}^,  47-49,  60,  61. 

Forbes  Street  Extension,  72,  73. 

Forty-third  Street  Bridge,  59. 

Full  Report  (Allegheny  River  Bridges), 
134-165. 

General  Map  of  the  Pittsburgh  District, 
Facing  page  i. 

General  Plan  of  Down  Town  District, 
Facing  page  9. 

Glenwood  Bridge,  64,  65. 

Grade  Crossings,  10,  56,  57,  59,  64,  71,  75, 
78,  79,  80. 

Grant  Boulevard,  106-108. 

Grant  Boulevard  Extension,  11. 

Greenfield  and  Squirrel  Hill  Extension,  64. 

Greenfield  Avenue  Connection,  64. 

Greensburg  Pike,  74. 

Greensburg  Pike  South  of  Turtle  Creek, 

74- 

Guyasuta  Park,  120. 

Haights  Run  Bridge,  59. 

Haights  Run  Thoroughfare,  67,  68. 

Haights  Run  Valley  Park,  121,  122. 

Hamilton  Avenue  Extension,  65,  66. 

Hazelwood  Grade  Crossing,  64. 

Highway  Bridges,  141-144,  160,  161. 

Hillsides,  Steep,  109-112. 

Howley  Street  Connection,  58. 

"Hump  Cut,"  The,  10,  11,  128-132. 

Index  to  Outlying  Thoroughfare  Improve- 
ments, 88-91. 

Introduction,  1-4. 

Introduction    (Allegheny   River   Bridges), 

133- 
Lang  Avenue  Connection,  83. 
Larimer  Avenue  Extension,  66. 
Letter  of  Transmissal,  XI. 
Lowry's  Lane,  77. 
Main     Arteries     (Main     Thoroughfares), 

44-56. 
Main  Arteries  (The  Down  Town  District), 

5,6. 
Main  Street  Grade  Crossing,  79. 
Main  Thoroughfares,  31-92. 
Management  and  Cost  of  Surveys,  98. 
Maps  of  Surveys,  96-98. 
Market  Street  Widening,  17,  18. 


Market,  The,  18,  123-128. 

Meadow  Street  Connection,  68. 

IMillvale  Playground,  118. 

Millvale  Thoroughfare,  78. 

Modern    Type    of    Boats    for    Non-tidal 

Rivers,  151-153. 
Monongahela   Hillside  Thoroughfare,   62, 

63. 
Moultrie  Street  Playground,  117. 
Mt.  Washington  Hillside,  122. 
Murray  Avenue  Extension,  69,  70. 
Need  for  Surveys,  Pittsburgh's,  93,  94. 
Negley  Run  Boulevard,  66. 
Negley  Run  Parkway,  121. 
Neighborhood  Parks,  113-116. 
New  York  Surveys,  98,  99. 
Nine  Mile  Run  Park,  119,  120. 
North  Side  Improvements,  75-77. 
Objects  to  Be  Secured  by  Surveys,  94,  95. 
Ohio  Street,  East,  77. 
Outlying     Thoroughfare     Improvements, 

56-92.    (Index,  88-91.)    (Map,  92.) 
Park  Opportunities,  Special,  11 7-1 22. 
Parks  and  Recreation  Facilities,  101-122. 
Parks,  General  Discussion,  113-117. 
Penn  Avenue  Artery,  44-46. 
Penn-Liberty      Connection      at      Howley 

Street,  58. 
Piers  and  Channels,  153-157. 
Plan  for  the  Proposed  Hump  Cut,  129. 
Point,  The  Improvements  of  the,  29,  30. 
Purpose  of  the  Report,  XIII. 
Railroad  Bridges,  144,  145,  161,  162. 
Rankin  Improvement,  72. 
Rankin  Playground,  118,  119. 
Recommendations    (Allegheny    River 

Bridges),  133,  134,  159,  160. 
Recommendations,     Specific     (Main     Ar- 
teries), 44-56. 
Recommendations,      Specific       (Outlying 

Thoroughfares),  56-92. 
Recommendations,  Urgent,  2,  3. 
River  Traffic,  138-140,  162-165. 
Rural  Parks,  116,  117. 
Sample  Maps,  98. 
Sassafras  Street  Outlet,  58. 
Sawmill   Run   Hillside  Thoroughfare,   83, 

84. 
Sawmill  Run  Parkway,  119. 
Sawmill  Run  Thoroughfare,  81,  82. 
Second  Avenue  Extension,  70,  71. 


INDEX 


169 


Second  Avenue  Freight  Yards,  10. 

Sharpsburg  Bridge,  59. 

Silver  Lake  Playground,  121. 

Sixteenth  Street  Bridge,  56. 

Sixth  Avenue,  9,  10. 

Soho  Connections,  60-62. 

South  Eighteenth  Street,  85,  86. 

Southern  Avenue  Connection,  82,  83. 

South  Hills  Artery,  49-56,  81-85. 

South    Hills    Tunnel    and    Thoroughfare 

Routes,  Profiles  of,  53. 
South  Side  Improvements,  49-56,  79>  85- 

87- 

South  Tenth  Street,  86. 

Special  Park  Opportunities,  117-122. 

Special  Reports,  123-165. 

Special  Types  of  Thoroughfares,  34-3  7- 

Squaw  Run  Park,  120. 

Squaw  Run  Thoroughfare,  79. 

Stanton  Avenue  Connection  to  the  Lin- 
coln District,  68. 

Steep  Hillsides,  109-112. 

Streets  Run,  74. 

Surveys  and  a  City  Plan,  93-100. 

Sycamore  Street  Grade  Crossing  and 
Bridge  Street  Improvement,  78. 

Technical  Procedure  for  Surveys,  95,  96. 


Thirty-third  Street  Improvement,  57,  58. 

Traffic  Center,  A  New,  9. 

Troy  Hill  Road,  77. 

Try  Street  Grade  Crossing,  10. 

Tunnel  Routes,  Areas  Reached  by  High- 

and  Low-Level,  54. 
Twenty-eighth  Street  Grade  Crossing,  57. 
Twenty-second  Street  Bridge  Approach — 

South  Side,  86,  87. 
Types  of  Thoroughfares,  Special,  34-37. 
Unified  Procedure  for  City,  County  and 

Borough,  43,  44. 
Washington  Avenue  Improvement,  82. 
Washington  Avenue   Improvement  East, 

85- 
Washington  Road,  81. 
Water  Front,  The,  19-28. 
West  Broadway  Extension,  83. 
West  End  Improvements,  80,  81. 
Widening  Old  Streets,  37-43- 
Width  of  Thoroughfares,  31-34- 
Wilkinsburg-Edgewood     Connection,     71, 

72. 
Wilkinsburg  Grade  Crossings,  71. 
Wilkins  Township  Thoroughfares,  73,  74. 
Wind  Gap  Road,  80. 
Woodstock  Avenue  Extension,  73. 


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